THE PERSONAL DIARY OF A UN CONSULTANT

September 3-30, 1978

My friends Zaki Azam and Mohammad Ahmad of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) of Manila, having read my "travelogue" of the overland journey from London to Peshawar (Pakistan) last year, urged me to keep a diary while in Japan. My permanent host at Manila, Mr. Rasheed Khan, executive director, ADB also lent his support to the idea. However, I did not give the suggestion even a second thought knowing fully well that there would be very few interested in my meaningless prattle, till after three weeks of stay in Nagoya - the headquarters of the united nations centre for regional development (UNCRD) and my place of work for the next few months, the idea to follow the footsteps of my mentor in rural development, Dr. Akhter Hameed Khan, who had also kept a diary (later published) during one of his stays in the States also crossed my mind. After this "apologia" and putting all the blame on Zaki and Mohammad Ahmad, being the prime movers for the effort, I must admit that I was scared out of my wits by almost everyone about the high cost of living, the total lack of communication because of the language difficulty, the weird food (raw fish and what not) that the Japanese eat and a hundred other things discouraging and bewildering. However the one silver lining was that some people did concede that the Japanese, on the whole, were a friendly people.

I was, therefore, pleasantly surprised to have felt absolutely at home from the moment I landed at Narita from Manila by the Philippines airlines DC-8. The customs clearance took no time. There were forms available in English. The encashment of dollars in yens was equally smooth. At the immigration only, I felt that the officer was a little flustered. Later, I came to learn from the administrative officer UNCRD, Mr. Kawashima, when he saw my passport, that on my visa "good for multiple visits" the officer had by mistake stamped "used" and then written alongside in Japanese that the "used stamp" had been put by mistake and the visa was valid for multiple visits during the full duration of my mission in Japan. One is not allowed to take the luggage trolley out of the customs area which means either you carry the luggage yourself or hire a porter - the charge for each piece is 200 yens. As I had to take the onward flight to Nagoya, I hired a porter and headed for the domestic terminal, which was in fact in the same building. However at the check-in counter, I was told that the flight by which I was booked by my travel agent (the American Express) in Islamabad, did not fly from Narita but from the other Tokyo airport called Hanneda. 1

Luckily there was a flight from Narita also for Nagoya a couple of hours before my flight and to my good fortune a seat was available on that flight. It was now one o'clock local time and the flight was not due till five in the afternoon, nearly four hours afterwards. The luggage could only be checked in 90 minutes before the flight time. However, I was informed that the luggage could be stored at the left luggage counter, which also was in the same building. The charges for storing luggage is 300 yens per piece. After knowing the charges, I took back my briefcase which I had also thought of depositing.

Since I wanted to ring up Ashraf Kazi, counsellor at the Pakistan embassy, who had also recently been posted to Japan, I headed for the telephones. It caused me some consternation to find the telephone directories in Japanese only. However, I found a Japanese girl using the phone and on my request, she tried to find the number of the Pakistan embassy in the directory, but with no success. As it was written on the telephone booth in English that enquiries can be made from the operator at no. 104, I suggested to the girl to ask the operator and offered her some coins to do so. She did not take the coins and put 3 ten-yen pieces in the phone-slot and dialed the enquiry. On putting back the receiver, after making the enquiry, the three coin pieces came out in the container tray of the instrument. So the sum total of my experience was that you don't have to pay for enquiries but to activate the instrument you have to put the coin pieces first in the slot. I thanked the girl, for she spent good ten minutes in the process and rang up the embassy. A taped message informed me that the embassy was closed (it was a Sunday) and that in case of urgency, I could ring up a certain number. I dialed that number and the gentleman informed me that Ashraf had arrived but was putting up in a hotel and since the embassy would remain closed for the next four days owing to the festival of Eid, I should try again after that period. This was all rather heartening. So far I had not encountered any insurmountable difficulty despite some difficult situation like the change of flight to Nagoya from Narita, getting Pakistan embassy's telephone number. On the food front, I found an excellent hamburger and a hot cup of tea for no more than 500 yen ($ 2.50).

The airport atmosphere did not give any indication that this was the scene of a pitched battle which made world headlines only a couple of months ago. Of course, the security arrangements were in full force and each ingress to the airport was well guarded. Narita is a beautiful airport equipped with all modern facilities, shopping arcades, escalators and very broad runways.

2

On arrival at Nagoya, as I had arrived a couple of hours earlier, I did not expect anybody from UNCRD to meet me till the flight from Hanneda. Hence I rang up UNCRD and again a taped message gave me the number of the administrative officer, Mr. Kawashima. I was indeed impressed by this system of taped messages during holidays or out of office hours. This made things indescribably convenient for the visitor. Mr. Kawashima informed that they had no information about the exact flight of my arrival as they did not receive the cable I had asked UNDP Dacca to send them. However, in anticipation of my arrival, a room had been booked for me at the new plaza hotel and that I could easily get there by taxi. I accordingly hired a taxi and was in the hotel in less than half an hour. For a 15-km drive the taxi fare was $9. However, at the hotel the receptionist tried to make me understand that my room was booked in the other hotel (owned by the same management) called Nagoya plaza. Mr. Ashraf of the Pakistan planning commission, who had been to Nagoya recently, had informed me that new plaza was better of the two hotels, I therefore, insisted on staying there. When the receptionist did not understand my objective, I asked him to ring up Mr. Kawashima whose number I already had. Mr. Kawashima informed me that the room was booked at Nagoya plaza because the room there was cheaper by 1,000 yen. Anyway I told him that I would prefer to stay at new plaza and since I was going to stay for six months, the management should give me some additional concession to what they were already giving to UNCRD fellows. This little talk resulted in a further concession of 400 yens. I found the hotel room a little congested but it had almost all the facilities - a comfortable double-bed, a colour TV with six channels, a radio with six choices of music, a telephone, an alarm clock, electrically operated for waking you up at the appointed time, a drawer-table with chair, a settee for two, a glass top table, a small wardrobe and above all a very neat and sparkling attached bathroom with fresh supply of linen every morning. Besides, an electric kettle with a cup and daily supply of tea- bag to make morning team was also provided. For breakfast and dinner, there were four snack bars in the premises and a slot-machine for getting cigarettes and cold drinks.

As the snack bars were closed because of Sunday, I was directed by the receptionist to go to a Chinese restaurant close to Nagoya plaza hotel. Anyway, I happened to go in the opposite direction and on failing to find the restaurant, I entered the first restaurant I saw to enquire about Nagoya plaza hotel. Since they appeared equally ignorant of the place, I decided to have dinner in that very restaurant which was divided up in two portions - snack bar and dining area. There were two other girls having dinner in that area. After I had started my dinner, I noticed that one of the girls was rather too friendly with the butler, who after the girl had whispered something to him 3

brought the cigarette lighter with the restaurant crest on it and presented it to me with the compliments of the management. After I had nearly finished the dinner, the same butler came to me and said that "the ladies want you to join them". Immediately the remarks of my friend's wife at Islamabad "Shabbu! Be careful of the Japanese women; they are very sweet and fast" flashed in my mind. I moved over to their table and found out that the butler was really the owner of the restaurant and the girl was the cashier, who was entertaining another of her girl friends. Although I am always very polite and nice (much to the annoyance of my wife) to the fair sex, I seldom find them magnetic unless they are strikingly beautiful (of course, according to my own standard of beauty). Thirty years ago, I found one such woman and married her two years later at the young age of nineteen (officially seventeen) and in my eyes, she had set too high a standard of beauty for me to go wayward. Anyway I found this a good introduction to a Japanese family and thought of cultivating the acquaintance of this girl. On my next visit to the restaurant, I found the girl absent and on my third visit when I asked the butler-owner about the girl, he told me that she worked only upto six in the evening and if I wanted, he could ring her up for me. There was no point in my ringing her up because the conversation could only proceed with the help of a dictionary. Anyway I told the butler to tell the girl that I would come the next day in the evening. However, the next morning I was invited to dinner by the director of the UNCRD, hence I went at lunch time and informed the girl that I won't be able to come that evening but would come the next evening. That evening the girl was absent. Next time when I met her at the restaurant, she promised to come to my hotel with her brother. As it rained heavily that evening, she phoned up to express her inability to come. So much for my friend's wife's observations, who probably concluded too much from a photograph of a Japanese girl in my friend's briefcase, after a visit to Japan. The Japanese girls are sweet indeed but fast indeed not. I have not seen any of those amorous scenes on the street, as one comes across in Europe or the States. I have seldom seen Japanese couples walking hand in hand in public. The standard of morality here is certainly very high.

About Japanese attitude towards foreigners, I was greatly impressed when once I asked the way to the hotel from a garage attendant and he took out a car and drove me to the hotel because it was drizzling. Nagoya underground (called subway in Japan) railway stations have beautiful shopping arcades and it is in the labyrinth of these arcades that I lost my way and headed out in a different direction than the one from where I had entered and which led to the hotel. On another occasion, when I enquired about the bus I should take for going to Imaike hospital from a gentlemen (this is just to safeguard against the impression that I always asked the women about 4

the way - although I did find women more willing to help), he directed me to a girl who understood a little bit of English. She not only pointed out the right bus but while boarding the bus, took out a 100 yen coupon and gave it to me and despite my protestations refused to accept money for it. This also added to my knowledge that for travel on buses, one could buy coupons in advance. The buses I travelled in, had two-tier fare structure =- 50 yens and 100 yens. In the case of purchase of ticket, you just drop the required coin in the slot while boarding the bus. In case of coupons, I don't know what I should have done because no one either asked me while I was boarding the bus if I had the coupon nor did anyone check it during or at the end of the journey. There is a tape played by the driver in a women's voice which indicates the different bus stops the bus approaches. Again at Imaike, I could not find the bus stop from where I could catch the bus to my hotel. At one stop I waited for half an hour without looking at the sign which had the bus numbers in English and my bus number was not listed in it. I asked quite a few people who tried in their own way to explain to me the way but ultimately I found a person who almost walked with me two furlongs to leave me at the bus stop. This is one country where Pakistanis are not looked down upon - in fact I met a Pakistani who is doing extremely well. He has three cars, a mercury monarch, a Toyota century and a British car. He explained to me that a managing director of a company is expected to own a foreign manufactured car otherwise his solvency is doubted. The Toyota, he explained, was necessary if one was dealing with the Toyota company because they do not allow any other make of a car to enter their factory area. The three cars according to him, were a status symbol for facilitating business dealings and for impressing the neighbours. I had to accept his word because this is his eleventh year in Japan and he is married to a Japanese woman.

On the food front again, contrary to the predictions of the prophets of doom, I experienced no problem either in regard to quality or price. My friend Ralph Diaz, who was indeed instrumental in getting me this consultancy, introduced me to Chinese, Japanese and mixed cuisine. I found all most palatable and wholesome. But Ralph was indeed aghast when in a Japanese restaurant, I gulped down something without wincing which was nothing else but the celebrated raw fish. Haruo Nagamine with whom I am directly working at the centre, introduced me to the famous Japanese dish "shabu shabu", which was indeed exotic and delicious. These are wafer-thin layers of beef which you dip in boiling water for a minute and then dip it in a specially prepared sauce and eat it with a lot of salad and other eatables. As regards price you can choose from a 500 yen meal to a 5,000 yen meal - depending on the place you want to eat and what you want to eat. The Kentucky 5

chicken and McDonald’s hamburger are also available within 300 to 700 yen range. I used to pass by a steak joint which had no price display window otherwise most of the eating places have plastic reproductions of food available in the restaurant with price tags displayed in the window. Unless someone tells you that the display material was made of plastic, you cannot tell it from the real food on sight. On entering the steak house, I found that beef was one of the most expensive items of food and steak prices ranged from 3,000 yens upwards. I was having some problem with breakfast because even the most frugal Japanese breakfast consists of a slice of bread almost two inches thick buttered and smeared with jam. I had to ask the waitress to reduce the width of the slice because it is only slightly toasted on one side. However, one day when I ventured out to the Sakae shopping centre, I found everything available and large big departmental stores which remain open even on Sundays. I made purchases of teabags, sugar, coffee-mate and rusk type bread to solve my breakfast problem and incidentally effecting considerable saving on this item. Later I extended this practice to dinners also because I used to find it very inconvenient to dress again for dinner on return from the office and after having a bath I felt like getting into bed and resting. This also helped in keeping my weight under control besides saving in money. However, I must clarify that saving was not the main objective because in any case I wasn't spending much on food.

I had developed a type of rash under my chin and on the neck while in Pakistan which I kept on neglecting and it suddenly erupted in Nagoya and had me really worried because it had all the symptoms of eczema or scabies. The purchase of an ointment from the local druggist with the help of the hotel receptionist did not help matters and I had to seek the assistance of our administrative officer in this regard. He got me an appointment with the doctor at a local hospital in the evening. The hospital was very clean and the receptionist very efficient. All the patients were sitting in a waiting area after registering themselves with the receptionist and every now and then announcements were made on the public address system asking patients by name to proceed to which room. In my case the nurse came and escorted me to the doctor, Dr. Kawahara, a very pleasant and helpful person. He prescribed an ointment saying that if it did not work, he might have to resort to injections and oral medicines. The bill showed 1,500 yens as doctor's fees, 850 yens for treatment (as a nurse applied some medicine on the affected area) and 1,000 yens for two tubes of the ointment. I was very happy to find that the ointment proved quite effective. I was also given a registration card by the hospital for future use. So on the health front, I was now fully conversant with the procedure to follow, but I did miss the British national health service where 6

once registered on arrival, you get the finest health care free.

My introduction to travel by the underground railway which is called the subway, was quite accidental. I had not even tried to travel by the subway because all the signs were in Japanese and I thought it would be impossible to decipher the system. One day when I had walked down to the Nagoya station in the hope that the Japan airlines office would be open, as it was on the previous Saturday, and I had to pick up my hotel reservation to Hong Kong enroute Bangkok- Osaka-Nagoya on my return from the ESCAP population conference which I was going to attend in the first week of October, I ran into Roy Kelly, who also works at the UNCRD. Roy has been in Japan for the last fifteen years and speaks fluent Japanese. His parents are missionaries and have been in Japan for a long time. Roy was waiting for a friend outside the movie house. He told me that the Japan airlines office is not closed because of Saturday but owing to a public holiday. The Japanese seem to have quite a few public holidays. This was the second one since my arrival three weeks back. Roy offered to introduce me to the subway system as his friend, as yet ,had not arrived. Roy had two free tickets to the movie given by a friend of his. I was quite amused to know that the system of complimentary tickets to the movies is not only prevalent in Pakistan. While on our way to the subway Roy bumped into his friend - a young American girl working in Japan for the last three years. Roy showed me how to use the subway map and also how to obtain a ticket for my destination from the automatic machine. I must say I was quite intrigued by these machines previously. Since they are fixed in a row in very large numbers at the Nagoya Station and had different denominations mentioned in the slots, I once took it to be machines for getting change because every-where people put some coins some ten-yen coins used to come out. In fact this was the balance of change which used to come out. I must say that the Japanese telephone and automatic ticket machines are an improvement on the British ones. In case of coin- box telephone, you use ten, fifty and hundred Yen coins. You can make a 3-minute local call with a ten-yen coin. You pick up the receiver and activate the instrument by putting in a coin and as soon as the tone comes, dial the number, if the called person picks up the receiver you go ahead and converse, if he doesn't you replace the receiver and the coin is automatically returned. This is unlike the British coin-box phone where you have to press the coin immediately on hearing pips when the called person picks up the receiver. The British underground railway is of course the last word in convenience and speedy travel. The difficulty with the Japanese system is that it is only when you get on the platform that you find names of stations written in English also but the main problem of course is to get the tickets for the right fare and get to the right platform. There are no 7

English subway maps available. Anyway I have found the tourist map of Nagoya, which also indicates the subway stations and is quite helpful. The subway fare is cheaper than the bus fare (80 yens as compared to 100 yens from my hotel to Nagoya station).

A few days after my joining the UNCRD, a Vietnamese also joined the Centre as a research Associate. Dong (pronounced Yong) and we had lunch together a couple of times and became friends. He is a doctoral research student and has been away from his country for the last ten years. He hopes to complete his research in the next two years and then return to his country. His wife is at the Tokyo university doing doctoral research in bio-chemistry. Dong usually goes away on weekends to Tokyo, but last weekend his wife came to Nagoya instead. Dong rang me up on Saturday morning and we went together to visit the shrine and the botanical gardens. Mrs. Dong's Indian friend Miss Rama, who is working for her doctoral degree at Kyoto university, also came with us. Dongs are a very pleasant couple. They have been married for two years and have no children. Are emphatically patriotic and are looking forward to returning to their country on completion of their education. Meeting the mild and sweet Dongs, I wondered at the steel determination of the Vietnamese which humbled the super-power of the world. Dong also told me that Dong was his given name and his surname was Nguyen Tri which appeared first. The Vietnamese always write their surname first and given name last. Miss Rama is a south Indian and now settled in New Delhi. She hopes to return next March after completing her research. Her major is philosophy. The Nagoya shrine was re-built in 1892. Otherwise it dates back to the ancient period. People come to this shrine, throw a coin or two inside and clap their hands once or twice and bow down for few moments ,in meditation. The botanical garden is also the zoo. Dong was quite amused by the antics of the penguins. One of them kept walking on the ridge pondering from time to time to jump into the pond below. Dong wanted it to jump. I thought she was only indulging in brinkmanship and would not jump. I suggested to Dong to have a 500 yen wager. He was still undecided when the bird jumped - much to my relief and Dong`s annoyance. While travelling by bus today to Nagoya station to meet the Dongs, I noticed that while boarding the bus everyone either put the coin in the machine alongside the driver or showed a pass or in case of the coupon (of the type given to me by the girl a few days back) also put it in the machine where the coins were being put. That day by not putting the coupon in the machine, In fact, I was travelling without payment. Anyway since I did not use the coupon again so my conscience is clear on that score but I am surprised at the driver although he saw the coupon in my hand, he did not insist on my putting it in the machine. In case of coins also the driver only watches you that 8

you have put a coin - a 50 yen or a 100 yen coin. No tickets are issued in lieu of the coin. It is left to your sense of honesty that you only travel the distance you have paid for, the driver has no means to stop you from travelling more than for what you have paid. Anyway there being only two structures you cannot cheat for more than 50 yens.

Today is the last day of September and it is a Sunday. I usually get up late on Saturdays and Sundays. In the beginning when I used to hang up the "do not disturb" sign, the hotel maid usually knocked at 1100 hours but after a week she would leave the fresh linen etc., outside my room door and come back around 1300 hours to clear the room and make up the bed. On these days I combine the breakfast and lunch and today also around 1300 hours, I got out of the hotel to have a Kentucky chicken brunch. I was surprised to see a procession on the street shouting slogans. On reaching the main Sakae shopping centre, I found other processions parading on both sides of the street up and down. Luckily at the pedestrian crossing, I met a Japanese who was quite amused by all this activity and knew English. He told me that these people are demonstrating and they are communists. On being asked what they were demonstrating against, he replied against war and America. As to why this particular day for it, the Japanese laughingly said "don't you think it is a fine day for this type of activity". It was indeed a very clear and pleasant day but I am sure, to arrange a demonstration of this size and it was quite a big procession, there must have been advance preparation. Today I also saw Japanese police, otherwise they are conspicuous by their absence on the streets of Japan. There was one helping the lady traffic warden to control traffic and there were two police vehicles at the end of the processionists. I am quite thunderstruck at the law-abiding Japanese citizens. The traffic is most orderly and hardly ever you hear hooting noise. Even the pedestrians obey the traffic lights to the letter. Most of the pedestrian crossings have lights indicating when to cross. The Japanese pedestrian would wait for the green signal even if there was no vehicle visible within miles. At non-manned crossings, a thick white line makes all traffic come to a dead stop to ensure that there is no cross traffic before proceeding or that there is no pedestrian crossing the road. In case of the processionists also, I found strict observance of the traffic code, unlike our countries where processions have precedence over all other traffic.

My introduction to the international telephone dialing system took place within hours of my arrival at Nagoya. The KDD (international telephone and telegraph office) is only a few blocks away from my hotel. Since my wife and four daughters and two grandchildren are in London, I gave them a 9

real surprise by ringing up from Nagoya. My first call was through the operator and the minimum charge came to 5,270 yens for three minutes. The second time I rang up on what we call in Pakistan (STDS) subscriber trunk dialing system and the charges were 1,800 yens per minute. On my eldest daughter's birthday on 26th September - she is married and has a daughter and a son - I booked a personal call as I did not know her office number. Although it took nearly ten minutes for the call to materialise, I was charged only for three minutes. Roohi was overwhelmed on the other side and broke into tears on hearing my voice. I had really made her happy by this call. Oh! I would have given anything in the world to make her so happy. Being the eldest, she has truly been taking care of the family for the last two years. I have no son but I have absolutely no doubt that if I had one he could not have been half as good as Roohi. Although in terms of distance I have come farther away from my family but in actual fact I feel much closer to them from Japan than I used to feel from Pakistan. Here I can pick up the telephone anytime and talk to them whereas from Pakistan it used to take hours and there was the operator in between. It certainly costs more but thanks to UN allowances, one can easily afford to do so.

One other very good system in Japan is the total absence of the custom of tipping. Be it a hotel, or a restaurant or a railway, or airport porter or a taxi driver you are not expected to tip, in fact, it would be frowned upon and really not understood as to what you are doing. The first time I left a tip for the bearer at the restaurant, he came back running thinking that I had forgotten my change. Normally the practice in restaurants is that you get the bill on the table as soon as you have given the order and your are supposed to pay to the cashier the cost of the bill on your way out on leaving the restaurant. Thus you know precisely before you start eating as to how much you have to pay unlike restaurants and hotels in other countries where the price mentioned on the menu and the actual bill are always at variance because of this charge and that charge on top of the price shown on the menu.

October 1978

I had attended the 34th annual session of the ESCAP as representative of the international planned parenthood federation in my personal capacity as chairman of the training, research and evaluation committee of the family planning association of Pakistan. During the session, the population division of the ESCAP had invited me to give a short seminar at the division on integration of family planning activities in other development programmes. As a sequel to that 10

seminar, I had received an invitation from them in Pakistan to attend their proposed workshop on the subject in October at Bangkok. In the meanwhile since I had come to Japan I informed the ESCAP about my inability to attend the workshop from Pakistan. However, to my great surprise the Japan airlines one day rang me up to say that they had received a PTA to enable me to travel to Bangkok and back from Nagoya. Haruo Nagamine very generously agreed to my attending the workshop. In fact later on I had to ask him to allow me to visit Sri Lanka also because the UNICEF wanted me there for a couple of days. Fortunately, this could all be done without much disruption of the work at the centre because of three holidays between 2nd and 10th of October. I checked out of the hotel during this period and the management agreed to keep my luggage in the cloak room. Although while going I could get a flight from Nagoya to Bangkok via Hong Kong, on return I had to take a flight to Osaka from Hong Kong and the Thai flight being three hours late, by the time I checked out of the Osaka customs, it was past nine-thirty in the evening and the customs officer informed me that I could not get a train to Nagoya till the next morning. I felt really annoyed with Thai, firstly they refused to provide me hotel accommodation at Hong Kong although I arrived by their flight the evening before and now they had brought me to a place wherefrom I could not get to Nagoya. Anyway at Hong Kong, Minhaj Hussain, consul general of Pakistan, and my friend Meraj Hussain's younger brother, had very kindly come to receive me at the airport and he put me up at his house in a room which reminded me of the film "The world of Suzie Wong", it had such an impressive view. The Meraj's really looked after me and showed me the whole of Hong Kong, but for them the visit could not have been so enjoyable.

When I came out of the airport, a taxi driver offered to take me wherever I wanted to go. He told me, or made me understand, that there was no train and bus to Nagoya. There was also no bus service to the town - the airport is nearly 20 kilometers from Osaka railway station. The only way to go to Nagoya at that time was by taxi which was going to cost 30,000 yens ($160). Luckily I asked him before starting off on the journey. For a moment, I felt that all my confidence and optimism about getting along in Japan without much difficulty, was going to be shattered today. In the meanwhile I espied a fellow-traveller of sub-continental origin. On enquiry he informed me that although he did not know much about Osaka but his brother who was coming to receive him was a resident of Osaka. At that moment he came up in his car and on hearing my predicament advised me on similar lines as the customs officer that was to stay for the night in a hotel and take the train to Nagoya in the morning. The customs officer, in consultation with his colleague, had told me that the first fast train would be at six in the morning. The Indian gentleman informed me 11

that there was a reasonable hotel called consort hotel near the railway station where I could stay. He very kindly gave necessary instructions to the taxi driver where to take me and within half an hour, I was at the hotel, where a room was luckily available and as is the custom, I paid an advance for the night's stay and my confidence in getting along easily in Japan was fully restored. The next morning I was woken up by the hotel receptionist at 0430 hours as asked by me, although it was not necessary because like my Nagoya hotel, there was an electric alarm clock in this hotel also. It was almost the same type of room except that the bed was single and the room smaller and the things a little old and worn yet in terms of charges, 1000 yens more expensive. I left the hotel by taxi at thirty minutes past five and within ten minutes, I was at the railway station. At the ticket counter, I was asked if I wanted a reserved seat, without understanding the purpose of the question, I responded in the affirmative. Later on I came to know that it costs 500 yens additional to have a reserved seat. Anyway I was happy to have asked for a reserved seat because the train was crowded and with a suitcase it would have caused me considerable hardship, however, my friends at the centre told me that they never ask for a reserved seat and always manage to get a place on the train. The ticket officer also informed me that the train would leave from platform No. 5. On entering the platform, I saw a big sign board in English "SHINKANSEN". So this was the famous bullet-train. I was looking forward to travelling by it. At the platform for which I had to take an escalator, the train was standing but its doors were still closed and each bogey had a number on it and the same number was displayed on a pole at the platform also. On showing my ticket to a lady passenger (who happened to be the first one in sight), she told me that my seat was in bogey no. 7 and seat No. D. I found the same number punched on my reservation chit, which was given to me in addition to the ticket, the total cost being 3,700 yens. The gates of the bogeys opened ten minutes before the departure time. I put my suitcase with the guard's permission in the corridor between two bogeys. The seat numbers were clearly indicated even to the extent of clarifying as to which was the window seat and which was aisle and on the side of three seats in a row, the middle seat was also marked. The train left exactly at 6'o clock, on the dot. Refreshment trolleys came one after the other - Japanese breakfast consisting of rice and other delicacies with tea in a plastic container which I initially mistook for something else; snacks and cold drinks; and coffee and sandwiches. I took a cup of coffee with sugar and cream costing 200 yens. The train was full because I could notice passengers paying additional amount to the ticket checker - who checked tickets once the train left Osaka and then again when it left after stopping at Kyoto - for reserved seats. To me the bullet-train didn't appear to be moving very fast and when nearly 15 minutes after leaving Osaka, 12

it started to slow down I started entertaining grave doubts about the reputation of the shinkansen. I thought like our trains, this was also subject to unscheduled stoppages and hindrances in maintaining speed. However, it turned out to be Kyota station - the famous old capital of Japan, a top tourist attraction - and the train left after a couple of minutes stoppage. The countryside from the train appeared flat on one side and hilly on the other unlike the English countryside which comprises downs and rolling countryside. The Japanese countryside could be likened with some areas in Pakistan. Exactly an hour and ten minutes after leaving Osaka, the train stopped at Nagoya - a distance of nearly 200 kilometers. I was surprised and greatly impressed. In fact like travelling in a jet where you don't feel the speed, the shinkansen also gives the same feeling. By 0730 hours I was in my hotel room - two hours from hotel room to hotel room, from one industrial city to another, covering a distance of over one hundred and twenty five miles, the Japanese are rightly proud of their shinkansen, and the world correctly applauds.

I was told by Dong my Vietnamese friend at the centre, that there are two railway systems in Japan - the shinkansen owned by government and the tokaido owned by private operators. There is a different fare structure for the two systems and at some places, different railway stations. The distance covered by shinkansen in two hours - say Nagoya to Tokyo - take nearly five hours by the other trains. Shinkansen's are also of two types one which travels non-stop from one big city to the other and the other type which makes a few stoppages. Thus the former type covers the Nagoya-Tokyo distance in two hours, the latter in three hours. One should therefore make sure that the train is a non-stop one called hakari and not kodama, before boarding it.

Like railways, the telecommunications system in Japan is also partially in the public and partially in the private sector. The KDD from where I make telephone calls to London, is privately owned but the internal telephone and postal system is in the public sector. Instead of the familiar public telephone booths - except at railway stations, airports etc., - one finds telephones kept on high stools outside shops or inside departmental stores. These are privately owned and authorized by the telephone department for public use on usual coin-box system. At closing time the shop- keepers leave these stands with telephones outside while locking up the shops. The coin-box accepts ten-yen and 100-yen coins. The coins are in the denomination of 1,5,10,50 & 100: the notes in 500,1000, 5000 and 10,000. The postage charges are 100 yens for aerogramme anywhere in the world, 70-100 yens stamp for postcards depending on size and 1000 yen stamps for envelope anywhere in Asia, 140 yens stamp for Europe and USA. 13

My friend and colleague Haruo Nagamine invited the group working with him at the centre to a day's outing to his apartment and nearby museum and a Chinese restaurant. The "task force" working on the study dealing with identification of basic needs comprises Lea Serano from Philippines, Chung from Korea, Achutta from India, Oya and Hosaka from Japan. Haruo is co- ordinator of study and I am supposed to be the adviser. Since Oya was away to Sri Lanka hence he did not come. Haruo's secretary Hirako Okada, who also acts as my secretary came to my hotel to guide us to Haruo's place. I have found Hirako a very efficient and pleasant person. She is able to type pages after pages of my atrocious writing without a single mistake.

On arrival we were welcomed by Haruo and his eleven-year old daughter at the museum - a private collection of 17th and 18th century scrolls and porcelain donated to a trust. In the compound was also situated the tea house where by special arrangement, we were treated to the exotic "tea ceremony" complete in the minutest details. Since the actual tea room could accommodate hardly four persons, one group had to wait. We took off our shoes and waited in the entrance. The tea-house was double-storeyed. After a while we were taken upstairs by a very grave looking person dressed in a suit sporting a goaty beard and requested to wait in the guest rooms. The rooms had "sitalpati" type of bamboo mats on the floors and no other furniture. We sat down cross-legged on the floor. After a little while we were invited to the tea-room which was situated downstairs. I wanted Harako to enter the room first but the gentleman with the goaty beard beckoned at me. Hirako whispered to me that the main guest is supposed to be invited first - the principle of ladies first does not operate in the tea room. The entrance to the tearoom was through two doors one leading to a small alley and the other to the actual tearoom. The guest is supposed to slide the door to the tearoom himself and enter by bowing down low. Haruo was already sitting there, he pointed the corner of the room for me to sit down. You are supposed to sit in the same posture as the Muslims take while offering prayers. The room was 'L' shaped - very small in size. One side was slightly raised and was adorned with a painting, a flower pot and a tea container. The master of ceremonies was seated in the alcove with another lady - all attendants of the ceremony were dressed in kimono, which is the formal dress and kimonos cost from 100,000 to 250,000 yens - who was preparing the tea under her guidance. The tea was served with great ceremony in two-hundred-year-old bowls. The tea itself is a frothy green liquid to be taken in three to three and a half sips. When the bowl is placed before you, it is ensured that the decorative part is facing you, while sipping the tea you are supposed to give the bowl a little turn so that the 14

decorative part is not facing your lips. Before serving the tea, we were served with Japanese cakes - one each served on a leaflike utensil-this is supposed to heighten the taste of tea. I found the tea quite palatable and had two cups after having been assured that it is quite in form to ask for another bowl. There were at least five to six ladies in attendance - two in the tearoom and three or four in the adjoining ante-room which had a connecting sliding door opening in the tearoom. There were two long pipes with a tobacco container kept in a tray in the middle of the room. This we were told signified that the ceremony was informal. On finishing the tea we had to come out backwards from the door. I wondered if this was informal what would be a formal ceremony. Anyway it was one of the most exotic experiences. It was just like a dream. One can never imagine what a Japanese tea-ceremony is unless one experiences it. Thanks to Haruo we had the privilege of experiencing it. It was all especially arranged for us. The Japanese are really overwhelmingly hospitable.

From the tea-house we walked over to Haruo's flat on the seventh floor of a newly constructed block. Housing is probably the most expensive and most inadequate facility in Japan. Haruo's flat - a sheer pigeon hole as four bed rooms and a dining-sitting room are compressed in a very small space - cost a princely $130,000. Mrs. Nagamine had left the hospital today to meet us. She had hurt her ankle while climbing mountains and had been hospitalised for treatment. Haruo has two sons and a daughter. The younger children gave a charming violin performance. The eldest - rather a rebel against parental authority - has a very inquisitive and innovative mind and a total non-conformist which seems to give Haruo quite some anxious moments. On being asked as to what he would like to do in the future, he said that he was interested in becoming a sound engineer and after a second thought, he confided to his father that in case people do not laugh, he would like to become a critic of pornographic literature. I suggested that he better keep to the first profession. I assured Haruo that every family has a child like his son and he shouldn't worry too much. Such children seem to look after themselves pretty well given some understanding and encouragement. We were served to excellent tea and pastries. The system of taking gifts in the shape of flowers, sweets etc., on being invited to someone's house, seems to be prevalent in Japan. I was also told that gift in return for a gift immediately is not considered in bad form, unlike other countries, it is quite the common practice. After tea and delightful time at Haruo's flat, we moved over to the nearby Chinese restaurant and were treated to a sumptuous meal by the Nagamines. We returned by the subway to the hotel. This line was opened only a few years ago and unlike the other two older lines, this has name signs in English both inside and outside the 15

platform.

Another practice in Japan of greeting the customers (and bidding them goodbye at the time of departure) whenever you enter a restaurant - an owner-run or a chain restaurant - has impressed me. In the beginning, I was a little flustered at all the waiters and waitresses shouting (or saying) something on entry and departure but later it sounded so warm and a welcoming gesture. Another thing which I have noticed that Japan is probably the only country where on picking up the telephone, the words said are not "hello" but 'mushai mushay" which probably means the same thing as hello. In the beginning, I mistook these words for the French words, "monsieur, monsieur".

I was lying in bed and at 2300 hours news on channel CBS-5 had just begun, when the peace of the night was shattered by a loud bang, as if two cars had collided. I was reminded of the april night at Oxford in 1962 when I had heard a similar noise and looking out of the window I had found a sports car had rammed against a Morris minor 1000. I looked out of the window of my hotel on the right side, because I have a corner room and there are windows on two sides. I could sense that something had happened a number of cars were stopping or slowing down. On getting out of the bed and looking out of the front window, I found a car with its front smashed up resting against a pole almost right beneath my room. Another car - a Toyota starlet sports - rather badly smashed up standing some distance away in the middle of the road sakura Dori (means cherry- road). I craned up a little to get a better view of the scene below and was horrified to see a man lying still near the smashed up starlet and my indignation knew no bounds when I noticed no one from the crowd even bothering to go near the injured person to help him. I felt a sea of anger and revulsion building up within me against the Japanese at this exhibition of callousness. I quickly changed into trousers and a sweater and went downstairs and was relieved to notice that the man was alive and conscious, although lying in a pool of blood and people were awaiting the arrival of the ambulance to handle him. I was reminded of the first aid instruction that in case of accidents, the patient should not be mishandled, if expert help could be quickly had. I felt that the ambulance and the police were taking ages to reach the scene of occurrence. Ultimately both arrived first a police car and then the ambulance. In the meanwhile a sizeable crowd had assembled and a number of motorists kept on stopping and getting down from their cars after proper parking - and coming to the place of accident which was just in front of our hotel. I also found quite a few hotel inmates in slippers and some only in pyjamas roaming around the place. I was distressed to see 16

some people from the crowd even cracking jokes and laughing at the whole thing. I am sure they must be berating the foolhardiness of the motorist who decided to collide at traffic lights by obvious disregard of the traffic signals and hence did not deserve any sympathy. But in the presence of the injured lying on the road and the whole place presenting scene of a ghastly tragedy, such display of behaviour was cussed, to say the least. The police had in the meanwhile taken full control of the situation. Suitable florescent signs had been displayed cordoning off the area of accident, the injured person had already been sped away to the hospital in the ambulance and the crowd confined to the pavement and the traffic flow smoothly regulated. When I returned to my room, it was twenty minutes past eleven o'clock. Although it had looked to me like ages but the police and the ambulance were at the scene of accident within ten minutes and they took just ten minutes to bring everything back to order. When at five minutes past midnight I looked out of my window, I saw a policemen seeping the road of the glass splinters. The two cars had been properly parked along the curbside. I wondered when the police in our country will become so effective, efficient and conscientious. Next morning while going to the port, I came across another minor smash up between a truck and a car. It was a bit too much - in such a short span of time after a total absence of any such incident in over seven weeks of stay in the country.

In Nagoya the television has 1,3,5,7,9 and 11 channels - of which 3 and 9 are NHK i.e. government owned and the rest are privately run and commercials. The commercials on these channels go on for almost ten minutes at a stretch. All the programmes are in Japanese including English and American films. However, I was surprised to find that how easy it was to follow the story even without understanding the dialogue.

Last Sunday Dong had stayed back because of some work at the centre, instead of going for the weekend to Tokyo to see his wife, and around noon, he rang up if I would like to have lunch with him. We went to the Chinese restaurant on the top of the 25 storeyed Tokai bank building. This is the best Chinese restaurant I have so far come across anywhere. Their charges are also reasonable and you get an impressive view of Nagoya. On the same floor of the building in another corner is an exclusive club where Honjo, director of the centre, had once taken me. The food was ridiculously cheap and good. I am sure the entrance and monthly subscription must be quite high. There appear to be quite a few such clubs. One of them is very close to my hotel. It is called the red horse club and has a brass plaque outside with a long quotation in English - one would mistake it for an English pub. The Nayota festival was also being celebrated today because 17

from the Tokai building, we could see the procession winding its way on the streets of Sakae shopping area. Dong and I went down after lunch and witnessed the procession comprising many bands and floats. Because of the rains and drizzle, all kimono girls were sitting inside the truck with the driver and their seats by the float were covered with polythene covers - must have been bitterly disappointing for the girls, however they kept waving cheerfully from beyond the windscreen. This is an annual occasion and results in selection of a kimono girl of Nagyoa for the year. Honjo had told me that these girls spend as much as $500 and more for buying a kimono just for wearing it for the day. I wonder if the switch over to western dress by the Japanese women is more because of the expensiveness of the kimono than the American influence.

A number of people in Pakistan had asked me to make enquiries about prospects of purchasing a reconditioned car for them in Japan. I had asked the Pakistani businessman, Mr. Zafarullah Khan, who had been resident at Nagoya for the last eleven years and was also dealing in export of second-hand cars, to get me information relating to price, availability of cars etc. On return from Bangkok, I rang up his house and a certain Mr. Khan was on the phone but failed to recognize me. I was a little surprised because Zafarullah Khan had, during my first and only meeting with him, taken me to his home and entertained me to dinner. On my further probe I was shocked to learn that Zafarullah Khan died a week back in an accident and it was his father on telephone, who had flown from Karachi on hearing his son's death. Strange are the ways and snares of fortune - man proposes God disposes. I was very sorry to hear of Zafarullah Khan's death. He was very well spoken of by all Pakistanis, I met at Nagoya. In fact it is people like him who had built up a good image of the country and its people. It was a very happy experience to find Pakistanis welcome in Nagoya, otherwise in most other countries especially European countries, it is a different story. However, I don't know how long this is going to last because unscrupulous Pakistanis have already started tarnishing the image of their country and their countrymen in the eyes of the Japanese. A recent incident, being widely quoted in the concerned circles, is one in which bank drafts for nearly two and a half million rupees were forged at Karachi, purported to have been issued by a bank in the Middle East on a bank at Nagoya. The drafts were encashed on presentation on the security of the Japanese firms with whom Pakistani businessmen have dealings here, but on intimating confirmation of the payments made to the bank, where the draft, had allegedly originated it was discovered that the drafts were forgeries and it was done by a gang in Karachi headed by the brother of a very influential man in the present regime. One doesn't have much sympathy with the people who lost money because they were indulging in an 18

illegal transaction, however the whole matter has brought the country and its people in disrepute because of certain unscrupulous people.

The Japanese regulations do not permit the export of a second-hand car except under personal baggage, unless the car has been repainted, refitted with new tires and a battery and the engine put in good order, with the result that one cannot buy a car from the market and export it without incurring too much expense. However, there are firms, like the one owned by the late Zafarullah Khan which deal in export of second-hand cars and offer quite competitive prices. Later Mr. Khan's manager took me to the port where the firms' cars were parked for export and I found that car prices varied according to model and year of manufacture, early or late (of the same year) in some cases made quite a bit of difference. In case of corolla from $1,900 for an early 1972 to $2,000 for late 1972, $2,400 for up to early 74 and $2,900 to 3,300, for late 74 to 75, CIF Karachi were the prevailing market prices. I found a late 1972 model in much better condition than an early 1974 model, but by and large Mr. Zafarullah Khan's cars were of standard quality. I was told that the reputed companies do not cheat. However, it is worth noting that CIF value of a new Toyota starlet or a Datsun cherry and even of a corolla would be about the same as of a secondhand late 1974 and above model but because of the tremendous difference in customs duty in Pakistan leviable on new models, people prefer to order the secondhand cars. A Mirpur businessman, Shoukat Ali, told me that there used to be lot of profit in the business but the Karachi market was getting flooded with secondhand cars and the margin of profit was being sharply reduced - I thought it to be a good thing for the poor consumers, although this had also affected the price of my Mazda 808 which I had left in Karachi for sale at the time of departure for Japan.

Dong, my Vietnamese friend, also introduced me to the most modern banking practices in Japan. An account holder even in Tokai Bank (not one of the major banks), could on demand get a bank card through which at any branch of the bank anywhere in Japan, he could draw money by inserting the card in the automatic machine. The machine not only gives him the money in whatever denominations he wants, but also comes out with the latest balance sheet. Each cardholder is allotted a secret code number which has to be fed into the machine along with the card - this is to protect misuse of the card in case of loss or theft. In case of wrong code number, the machine gives out an alarm alerting the security guard. I had seen such machines in European banks but I had thought that these were restricted to drawing money from that branch 19

only in case one had an account in that particular branch. I wouldn't know if the Japanese system is an improvement on the European system or is on the same pattern. Anyway the system provides a great facility to the account holder.

The dollar seems to be plunging down every day. Since my arrival, in less than two months, it has slided from yen 190 to 180. I was also surprised to learn that the Canadian $, which I thought was almost at par with the US $ was worth only Y 140. I also found that the ratio of yen to $ is most favourable in Japan as compared to Hongkong or Bangkok. So if one has to change yen to $, one should do it in Japan.

On weekends I usually laze in bed till late in the morning and this Sunday also I got up very late and by the time I had bathed and dressed, it was well past lunch time. I headed for the nearby kentucky chicken snack bar, which was unusually crowded, and had a bite of chicken. The weather was very nice and pleasant, almost like November in Islamabad or Peshawar and I had an urge to go and bask in a park. London in this respect is peerless because there is always some sort of park within a stone's throw of wherever and whichever part of London you might be in. The only park near my hotel is the central park, which to my great wonder, has been built (there is a lot of masonry work) literally before my eyes. Big trees and plants have been transplanted. Beneath the central park is, of course, Nagoya's specialty - a big underground shopping arcade due to open on the 11th of November. Anyway while sauntering along aimlessly on the streets, I suddenly came upon a street in the heart of Sakei shopping area which gave me a very festive look. There was no vehicular traffic on it. People were walking in the middle of the road. Youngsters were roller skating and at different intervals in front of big shops and departmental stores, chairs with sun umbrellas were placed right on the road tarmac. For some time I could not make out as to what was all this about. I walked from one end of the street to the other and thought the street was perhaps closed to vehicular traffic on an experimental basis. Later on I came to learn that every Sunday the street is closed for sixteen hours and exclusively reserved for the pedestrians. People were making full use of this facility and really enjoying themselves. Besides showing all sorts of antics on the roller skates, I also found a group of youngsters engaged in yoga. Another pair comprising a photographer and a person with the leaflets in hand. The photographer took pictures of the person. In many cases, especially girls, the reading of the pamphlet used to cause lot of amusement and even refusal to get photographed. Whereas some elderly people had no hesitation in getting themselves photographed. I could not 20

muster enough courage to find out to what it was - hence it all remained a mystery. Sometimes lack of understanding and knowledge of language could lead you totally astray. If once happened to me with stunning results about a newsflash on TV which telecast a car with a man inside and surrounded by people with pickaxes and stones in their hands and then the car was on fire and people breaking open the windscreen and glass of the car with stone and pickaxe and dragging out the man from inside the car. To me it appeared a perfect scene from one of the Western movies of lynching. However, I was surprised to find no mention of the incident in the morning newspapers next day. On enquiry it transpired that it was not a case of lynching but just the reverse of it - the man had locked himself up in the car and after seven hours of refusal to come out, he set fire to the back seat of the car and it was then to save him that people broke open the car and dragged him out. I learnt my lesson not to jump to conclusions. I sat on one of the chairs lying alongside a store in the middle of the road and basked in the delightful sunshine for over an hour. It is interesting to note that the Japanese women seem to be dressed in the most modern and stylish French fashions, the Japanese male still continues to wear the narrow bottom trousers.

I had a standing invitation from Ashraf Qazi, counsellor Pakistan Embassy, to come to Tokyo and stay with him. This was indeed not the first time I was offered his hospitality. In London in 1968, where Ashraf was a third secretary at the Pakistan high commission, he had placed his flat at the disposal of my family for nearly two months. My five years at the civil service academy, where new entrants to Pakistan's civil and foreign services used to be trained, were the most rewarding and best years of my career. Ashraf belonged to one of the first batches who came to the academy during my stay there. Although I am intensely interested in the welfare of all my trainee- probationers, Ashraf belongs to that special group which kept in constant contact with me even after I had left the academy. Being very handsome and endowed with most charming manners, Ashraf has been a favourite of everyone in my family. My Vietnamese friend, Dong who goes to Tokyo every weekend, was my journey companion on the shinkensen for which I paid yen 6,000 as Dong undertook to get me a seat in the un-reserved bogeys thereby saving me yen 600. I found that bogies 1-4 are assigned for non-reserved ticket holders and 5 to 16 for reserved ones with 8 as restaurant car and 10 and 11 for red ticket holders (first class). I did not find the ride this time as smooth as on my last journey from Osaka and on the way to the restaurant car I could feel the speed of the train and had to hold the seat handles, while walking, to escape falling down. As there was a long queue at the restaurant section, we moved over to the buffet and there I found 21

the speedometer registering a speed of 210 kilometers per hour - the meter showed 300 km as the maximum speed of the train. I learnt that the shinkansen normally runs between the speed of 190 and 210 km per hour. On return journey, I found that the reserved bogies are cleaner and give a smooth ride compared to non-reserved ones. I think the additional expense of yen 600 is worth the money. As we had taken the shinkansen eleven minutes prior to the one I had notified Ashraf, there was a bit of a mix up for the embassy driver, Mr. Suzuki,in locating me. Although it is quite easy to receive someone on the train if the correct train timing, seat and bogey number is notified in advance. I also discovered this time that Hikari is the non-stop shinkansen and kodama, the one which makes some stoppages in addition to Hikari.

Ashraf has a very commodious and spacious flat unlike usual Japanese accommodation. Although I had met Mrs. Ashraf (Abida) once or twice before but it was just a nodding acquaintance. I met his two lovely daughters - Nilufer and Maha - for the first time. Unfortunately the weather on the last weekend of October, Instead of an autumn-blue sky brought out a wet and murky day. However we went off to climb the Tokyo tower, higher than Eiffel and yet as proudly declared in the brochure, 3000 tons lighter, thereby proving the superiority of Japanese steel. Nevertheless, Eiffel tower is Eiffel tower and in grandeur and awe, it is peerless. Tokyo tower looks too slender. However, their claim about its height was amply proved when on reaching the top stage, we found snow flakes drifting by the viewing windows. Ashraf looked at me in disbelief when I pointed out the flakes to him. One can get a magnificent view of Tokyo from the tower. Unfortunately, I could not because of the murky weather. Down below is the princess hotel at $100 per day room charges, of course it is not the most expensive hotel in Tokyo. I found Tokyo city like any other big city. In fact I was pleasantly surprised to find it spacious and open unlike the impression one conjures up in mind about the most populous city of the world.

My visit coincided with Ashraf's first formal dinner party at his flat since his arrival in Tokyo. His guests included the Russian counsellor and Mrs. Kamarasky, the recently dismissed Afghan counsellor and Mrs. Sadullah Ghonssey, the Indian counsellor and Mrs. Ram, a Pakistan gentleman with his Chinese wife, an Australian diplomat and his wife and a few others. I found Mr. Kamarsky and Dr. Ghonssey most interesting people to talk to. The Russian had been studying Japanese language and culture for the last twenty eight years and he was at Russian embassy in Tokyo since 1959 off and on. I was most impressed by his knowledge of Japan and the deep study he had carried out of the shinto shrines and the Japanese architecture and history. He 22

expressed the view that the Japanese have the great quality of assimilating outside influences and Japanising them instead of fighting or resisting external onslaughts - be it in their culture or religion.

A case in point he mentioned was the Buddhist phenomenon in Japan, which took a completely different shape in Japan. He also underlined the place of consensus in the Japanese way of life. He said believe it or not the attack on Pearl Harbour was launched only after a consensus had been obtained from the government, business and commercial as well as other groups. The smallest family enterprise to the giant commercial organizations in Japan function on consensus. The Russian also touched on the Sino-Japanese treaty and was critical that although in case of China, Japanese have agreed to postpone the resolution of certain irresolvable disputes to the future generations, they do not appear to adopt the same attitude towards Russia. I was greatly impressed by Prof. Kamrasky's (he regularly lectures at the Japanese Universities) candid, forthright and insightful assessments. For a Russian he was very frank and open. The recent change-over in Afghanistan resulted in Dr. Ghonssey's taking up a professorial assignment in Tokyo. He was of the view that Russians had literally taken over control of the country and the Afghan diplomatic service and the foreign office were being systematically disintegrated. He was very bitter against the Russians and his wife had murder in her eyes for them. Ashraf and I sat on discussing the Haiko form of poetry in Japanese which restricts expression of ideas and thoughts in a total of seventeen syllables. I was impressed by Ashraf's total immersion in Japanese culture - probably the only way to understand a country and its people.

I found Abida a perfect hostess. Despite the pressure of the party, she kept her composure and seemed to be attending to everything without even once losing her temper or getting cross about anything - so usual for ladies in such a situation. Although I did hear Ashraf raising his voice at the children when he seemed to be getting late for his courtesy call on Admiral Sharif, who landed in Tokyo at a few hour's notice on a weekend, but Abida took everything calmly in her stride. I was most impressed by her calm and quiet way in which she attended to everything, including the children. She sounded very genuine and warm in inviting me again to visit them. Ashraf's little daughter Maha is a real fiery petrel. I was quite amused by her fluency in abuses when provoked, obviously picked up from the maidservant.

23

Suzukesan, the embassy driver, who had nearly waited for good part of the day at the hotel for the Admiral on a sunday, was somewhat mollified when I assured him that there was only one Admiral in Pakistan and he had to be shown special consideration even at the cost of grave inconvenience to others.

Back in Nagoya, I was greatly touched when the bus driver allowed me to have a free ride in the bus because he had no change for yen 1,000 note, I offered him. Back home I would have been either refused entry in the bus or asked to produce the required change from anywhere.

November 1978

My acceptance of the invitation to attend an ESCAP meeting in November, prior to coming to Nagoya, took me to Bangkok again, this time via Manila where I once again enjoyed Rasheed and Nighat's hospitality. At Bangkok I met Sudershan my university class-fellow, after over a quarter of a century. She is now married to my university friend Amarnath Varma, who is working as a consultant at ESCAP. Meeting with Sudarshan brought back memories of yesteryears. When I complimented her on preserving her youthful looks, she chided me for becoming very bold. It reminded me how correct and careful I used to be towards her. In those days friendship with a coed really made one feel very self-important. I knew lot of boys wanted to be friends with Sudarshan but she hardly encouraged any. Sudarshan told me this time that even one of them who didn't like our friendship, told her that I was married but she rebuffed him by saying that she didn't mind.

Another person I met after nearly seventeen years was my friend Sultanuz Zaman and his wife. We had joined the civil service together and in 1961 when Sultan was getting married, as the owner of the only tomato red opel rekord in Dacca, I drove the bridegroom to the bride's house and brought the couple back to the groom's house. Sultan is now chief of the agriculture division at ESCAP from Bangladesh. Sultan's are a most hospitable and charming couple.

Since the cost of a haircut in Nagoya was nearly $10, I thought of having the haircut at Bangkok airport barber's saloon. No sooner my hair had been trimmed I was laid flat on the chair with my head in the wash basin, ostensibly for a shampoo but simultaneously with the shampooing while the face was covered with a towel a girl started massaging the legs with a machine and another 24

one started giving a manicure and the massage continued even after the shampoo was over. The girl doing the massage whispered in my ears, which incidentally had also been cleaned with cotton wool, if I was feeling hot followed with the pleading that she was very good. It all was said with such innocence and abruptness that it left me completely speechless. It appeared that the cost of the massage depends on the time you spend in the barber's chair and finally when I did wrest myself away from the barber's chair, despite the girl's protests, the cost was $11 for the haircut, shampoo, massage, manicure and cleaning of the ears.

The stopover for the night at Hong Kong was uneventful except that the airline put me up in the king's hotel on nathan road in Kowloon. The room had a miniature frig filled with cold drinks and beer. You are requested to pay for whatever you consume. The next morning I made a quick trip to the market to pick up some warm clothes and on return was befooled by the taxi driver who after trying in vain to find the hotel dropped me at a place by saying that the hotel was just across the road and being one way, he could not take me there. It appeared that the hotel was in the opposite direction but luckily not very far away: otherwise I would have almost missed my flight. Dr. Dilawar Ali Khan from Pakistan while coming to attend a seminar at UNCRD also brought my suitcase containing my winter clothes. I know it must have caused him real inconvenience but he brought my suitcase by leaving his own behind. I was greatly touched by this gesture of his. Nagoya's weather is becoming colder day by day and without the warm clothes, I would have really shivered. Purchasing clothes in Japan was simply out of the question keeping the costs in view. This also brings to my mind the most expensive dinner to which we were entertained the other day along with some members of the UNCRD advisory council. The cost per head was nearly yen 8,000 ($40) - it was "shabu shabu" dinner followed with melon and ice-cream. The food was superb. Expensive places are really expensive in Japan. One should be very careful when venturing out to unknown places.

The visit to Kyoto was made possible through the courtesy of Shoukat Ali from Mirpur (Azad Kashmir) who asked his friend Mr. Kamura to drive us down in his car to Kyoto. The research fellows from India (Achutha) and Korea (Chung) also came along. The Japanese express-way (meishen in case of Kyoto) is a fourway road (two lanes on each side) and far inferior to British or European motorways. It took us nearly an hour and a half to reach the outskirts of Kyoto. Sunday seemed to be a bad day for a visit to Kyoto - the star tourists attraction being the old capital of Japan and the only city which at the behest of the Smithsonian foundation was saved from 25

American bombing during the second world war. The road toll each way amounted to yen 1,700 ($9.50). It is quite expensive to travel by express-way if one is alone in the car. It would be cheaper to take the shinkansen. I think the most suitable way of visiting these places is to be a part of the package tour, otherwise the problems of parking and transportation from one place to another make the whole trip very tiring, troublesome and expensive.

We visited the Ohara and the silver temples and bought pictures of the golden temple because it became dark. The temples are beautiful to look at and the miniature gardens look really cute. Japanese practice Buddhism and some also observe the old religion, namely Shintu. However, I didn't find much difference between the Buddhist and Shintu temples except that the latter do not have Buddha's images.

In desperation when we were unable to find parking space at the temples, we got down at the first park we came across. This had a cable car also. The park was full of beautiful Japanese maple (the leaves are miniature as compared to the Canadian maple). At this time of the season - the advent of autumn - the green leaves turn hectic red, yellow, burnt brown and a motley of other colours which defies any description. The whole forest of maples appears to have come alight with all types of hues and colours - just before the leaves fall down to await the winter snow. This was one of the most beautiful natural scenes, I had ever seen. In November 1977, while travelling by road from Teheran to Mashhed, I had come across some trees with beautiful leaves but these were few and far between, here we had a whole jungle of colour. The cable car took us to the top in two stages giving us a magnificent view all along the way. However, it was quite surprising to note that fare was charged separately at both ends for going up and coming down. One thought it was understood that once you went up to the top you would like to come down also. However, I must say that I noted some students walking down the hill on way back. The fare being yen 650 each way, no wonder the students decided to walk.

I was very keen to see the old city of Kyoto because the main streets that we had been motoring along were newly constructed. Kitamura, therefore, took us away from the main thoroughfare and we walked through lanes no more than two yards wide - almost reminded me of the galis of Peshawar city - with houses in old style. It was so peaceful and serene - away from the hustle and bustle of the modern life. There were beautiful canals lined with weeping willows along the roads. It was simply beautiful. The Japanese are quite fond of weeping willows because even in Nagoya, 26

the streets, wherever possible are lined with beautiful willows. I was grateful to Kitamura for having shown us the real Kyoto. We returned late in the evening.

The month of November was a busy month at the UNCRD - a month in which two international seminars and the annual meeting of the UNCRD advisory council took place. I could hardly find any time to write the diary. However I met a number of experts and world-renowned people like Friedman, Benjamin Higgins, Keith Griffins, Bhalla and Misra from India.Guy Hunter came to attend our expert group meeting. I was quite pleased at Dr. Misra's (director of institute of development studies, university of Mysore) suggestion that I should write a book on the Daudzai experience and he had a publisher who would be interested in printing and publishing it. I just wondered what people in Pakistan are going to say to a book being published in India on an experience in Pakistan. Guy as usual was a real asset to the group meeting. I found the south Korean team of professors Choe and Choe very amiable and accomplished. It was indeed a pleasure to meet again Shahid Latif - my probationer at one time - representing Bangladesh, which he did ably.

December 1978

The visit of the experts group to the Matsuzaka beef country was indeed illuminating. This is a city of over 100,000 situated about 90 km from Nagoya. We took a privately-run train service - only shinkansen are owned and run by government - and I was pleasantly surprised to get a bottle of cold milk and a buttered roll at the Nagoya station for the princely sum of yen 120 (65 cents). The mayor and the city officers met us and gave a briefing on agriculture in the vicinity. We were told that on the whole, no more than 26% of the household income, on an average, was contributed by agriculture. The officers were of the view that farmers holding less than 0.5 hectare, which constitute nearly 30% landholders, must give up agriculture. The trend was also in this direction. There has been a decrease of 40% in full farming activity amongst the landowners of less than 2 hectares, whereas there has been increase in households owning over 2.5 hectares. The sale of land, which was taboo in the past is now being resorted to and households are selling out to move out from agriculture to full time industrial employment. The crops grown are rice, vegetables, mushrooms, strawberry and lettuce. Rice is planted in April and harvested in September. However, the most startling piece of information for me was that the cropping intensity, generally 27

all over Japan, was only 110%. I had all along believed that Japanese farmer was a highly intensive cultivator and was getting more than two or three crops and meeting all his requirements from the income from land. Here I saw a situation in which most of them not only get less than 26% of their income from land but that they did not use the land intensively. Guy Hunter agreed with me fully when I mentioned to him if this was not waste of a precious resource. He was also perplexed at this phenomenon because the climate in England is somewhat similar to Japan, yet the land there is not allowed to lie fallow for six months in a year. I tried to probe this question with Oya and Yogo at the UNCRD. Oya, a research associate at the centre, is a farmer's son and he explained that in his childhood they used to get a minimum of two crops from the land but it was real hard work - getting up early at five on a winter morning to dig up the potatoes etc. With an assured high price for rice (almost six times the international price) by government and more lucrative industrial employment in winter months people have tended to prefer winter employment and leaving land fallow. Yogo, an agricultural engineer, attributed economic reasons, hold of the cooperative which stifles individual initiative - unless everyone decided to grow a second crop, the few who want to do it can't do so, because the marketing outlet is only through the cooperative - and need for giving rest to land to retain productivity. Whatever the reasons may be, the fact remains what whereas in other countries we think of increasing incomes by increasing cropping intensity, Japan is not at all exploiting this resource indeed because of comparatively lesser returns and higher labour input, there is a definite trend to move away from agriculture. The city officials vehemently rebutted the suggestion that agriculture might totally disappear from Japan by the turn of the century, as the farmers are being offered exorbitant prices for converting agricultural land for industrial purposes.

Matsuzaka is famous for its beef. I had tasted some of it at "shabu-shabu" joints. We were told that one of the animals fetched as much as $20,000 last year. We saw one which had already been booked for $10,000. Besides giving them special diet, these animals are constantly massaged - some say with beer - so as to produce quality beef.

The co-operative organisation is very strong. All persons owning 0.1 hectare and engaged for 90 days in a year in farming, are members of the co-operative. The co-operative is going in all types of commercial ventures such as super-market, super-highway motels, cold-storage, etc. I was reminded of the activities undertaken by the kotwali thana central co-operative association in Bangladesh - dairy farming, cold storage, processing industries. The only difference is that there 28

are thousands of such co-operatives in Japan, whereas we could not fully nourish even one KTCCA. The markaz federation in Pakistan is being opposed tooth and nail by the co-operative department. I wonder when we would learn and from whom or are we never going to learn these things to enable our poor farmers to get out of the mire of poverty.

We also visited two farmers - as some of the experts put it a large farmer (in this case the family owned 7 ha.) and the target group farmer (owning 1 ha.). The contrast between the two establishments was obvious and clear. The large farmer had big spacious house - much larger from the Japanese standard. He could seat and entertain the whole group of 25 in his room. Some expert's idea that the luncheon should have been hosted by the city mayor, was acted upon by the farmer who served coffee and delicious juicy oranges. The farm was full of farm machinery and vehicles including two beef cattle. The poor farmer had none of these things but he had a house which had almost all the amenities of life - the toilet was outside and hole-type. The village was beautiful although we had to travel nearly 100 km from Nagoya to find it. Otherwise as Guy remarked at the Matsuzaka railway station - when I asked him 'how he finds the countryside' - that he had yet to find the countryside. Guy had brought a book for me, "The Great Mughals by Gascoigne" which I really enjoyed reading before going to sleep.

The weekend following the conclusion of the expert group meeting, my friend Ralph Diaz invited me over to spend a weekend with him at the house. Ralph is living alone these days as his family has gone over to Philippines in preparation to setting up the house at Manila, as Ralph is planning to leave UNCRD after nearly six years service. Ralph is one of the very few people I have met, who understand the intricacies of micro-level development and no wonder that he does with his background of work in backward areas of Italy, kibbutz of Israel and highly academic institutions of west Germany. Ralph lives in a rambling big place from Japanese standard in a most secluded area on the outskirts of Nagoya. The house is like an eagle's nest hidden away from prying eyes. The other house guest besides me was Somkiat, an assistant professor from one of the Thailand universities, who is engaged in writing a book on rural development at UNCRD. We had a most enjoyable weekend. Ralph is a very generous and hospitable host. The first night he took us for a steak dinner at a posh restaurant. The next morning we persuaded him to buy things from the market which he did from a nearby cooperative of the farmers at 30% cheaper prices, and I showed my expertise at making an omelette and dressing salad. We also visited the nearby forest 29

park which is indeed a most beautiful part. Ralph also took me to a place where somsai (miniature trees) were on display and sale. The prices varied from yen 500 to yen 50,000. Some of the trees were really a wonder. We also drove round the new housing estate with nearly 80,000 inhabitants and an extensive shopping centre. Ralph told us that most of the population of the new estate comprised young couples with the result that the estate administration was faced with problems such as bumper crop of babies, throwing the planned facilities, for a diversified population age- wise, in total disarray. Sumkiat was an excellent company and the expected arrival of his girl friend from Thailand on December 22, to marry him provided enough opportunity for banter and good humour. Ralph took us home on Friday evening from the office and deposited us back at the office on Monday morning.

On the basis of 2-1/2 days leave earned every month, I was sanctioned nine days annual leave and as Ashraf was able to manage a round ticket to London for me for only yen 170,000. I have decided to fly to London on the 29th of December. Since Musarrat likes stones and pearls, I had no difficulty in deciding what to take for her. Japan is famous for its cultured pearls and through Ashraf's good offices, I was able to get a set of pink pearls at a reasonable price. For my three elder daughters also I bought white pearl necklaces but the main problem arose about the youngest daughter and the two grandchildren. Amongst clothes, Japanese kimano is very expensive besides it can't easily be worn. There was no point in buying western clothes because London is a far better place for them. However, I found that seiko watches are a good buy in Japan. In fact I got so carried away by the spectrum of watches that I not only bought watches for the children but could not resist buying beautiful and cute looking ring-watches for the whole family. The prices vary from as little as yen 2,500 to yen 209,000.Unlike Pakistan the wholesalers in Japan also sell to individual customers. I found that there was great price variation between goods sold at wholesale markets and at the departmental stores.

While walking down to office, I was surprised to see an old man making water on the pavement. Nobody, of course, took any notice. To me the man appeared feeble and sick. The care of the old is an acute problem in Japan because of the cramped accommodation, old people have to be moved out to ole people's homes. Since the opening of the central park, I also noticed an odd couple kissing publically. There is a buying spree these days with Christmas and new year sales on in every departmental store and most of the shops. Although the majority of the people in Japan are Buddhist and 25th December is not a public holiday but new year is celebrated with 30

great fervour. In fact all establishments close down from December 28 to January 3. At the UNCRD since the building is locked up, in which the Centre is situated, for these days and as the UN does not recognize these holidays, the staff is forced to take compulsory leave for the period. One morning Ralph came and declared that there has been a theft in his house. The event took place in the week following our stay. Nothing much was taken away except some of the Christmas gifts that Ralph had bought for his family, who are at present living in Manila. Ralph suspected that some boys from the nearby orphanage might be involved in the theft. The matter was reported to the police. In Japan the police operates at a very micro-level and this is why the policemen and women are usually seen on bicycles on their beats. They are required to know almost all the permanent inhabitants of the area under their custody, hence outsiders visiting their areas immediately come to their notice. Three days later Ralph announced that all the things had been recovered and the chief of the police himself brought the things to Ralph's house and offered profuse apologies for the inconvenience caused.

The director of UNCRD, M. Honjo, is an extremely affectionate and fatherly personality. Today he asked me over to a crab dinner and took me to a real posh place. I had never realised that crab meat was so delicious and one of the best white meats I had ever tested. After the new year's party of the UNCRD staff held on 26th December, Honjo and Mrs. Honjo asked me over to join the young crowd whom they were taking to a disco. Honjo had never been to a disco and he wanted to have the experience. The admission to the disco was about yen 2,000 per head and in addition Honjo bought a bottle of whisky at another yen 10,000. While entering the disco, I had noticed hundreds of half finished bottles of whisky etc., lying stacked on shelves. I understood its significance at the time of leaving the disco when Honjo also deposited his less than half finished bottle for safe custody to be used on next visit, if ever. The disco atmosphere was like any other disco except that in the dance area, multi-coloured lights were being flashed from beneath the floor which created rather a weird atmosphere. Honjos are an extremely hospitable and pleasant couple. O.M. Mathur and Mrs. Mathur, the Indian couple at the UNCRD, have always been going out of their way to make me feel at home and at the slightest pretext invite me over for meals to their flat. They have a flat in the same building as Honjos. He recently decided to buy a car. The dealer asked him to produce evidence to the effect that he has parking space available. One had to hire a garage at yen 16,000 ($ 80) a month. No one can buy a car in Japan unless he has parking accommodation.

31

New year is a big occasion in Japan. Almost all the establishments remain closed from December 29 to January 3. Everyone is supposed to give a gift to everyone else. Mostly money in case of youngsters. Everyone sends new years greetings card. Haruo at the UNCRD told me that he has to send nearly 400 cards and Honjo might have to send even more. Hirako, my secretary, also gave me a beautiful Japanese diary as a new year gift.

I was pleasantly surprised to get a call from Tokyo and to find my elder brother on the line. Being a mercantile marine captain, he had come to Japan in connection with purchase of ships for his company. He paid me a visit at Nagoya. His visit coincided with the visit of Ashrafs from Tokyo. We spent a pleasant Sunday visiting the castle and sakae city centre and climbing the Nagoya TV tower. We took the same flight on Friday 29. He was bound for Karachi and I for London. Fortunately I reached Tokyo a day earlier because the voucher for the discounted air travel given by the travel agent was not accepted by the airline when I visited their offices along with Nasim of the commercial section of the embassy. Nasim was working in establishment division in 1962 with me. Nasim has been in Tokyo for the last many years and took me straight to the agent and got the ticket from the airline by sending one of the girls from the travel agents. Ashraf's, as usual, were very hospitable and arranged for my transport return to Narita. Katusan, the embassy driver, paid road toll twice amounting to about yen 1,000 on the way. He also informed me that in Japan besides the diplomats, only emperor and the press cars fly flags. He was quite agitated because a famous actor, near his house, had committed suicide because of indebtedness. In Japan there is still a system, like the British 11+ examination, prevalent and on the results of this examination, boys and girls future educational career is determined. There have been cases of suicide even amongst young students in case of failure to make the grade in this examination. I wonder why the educational authorities in Japan have not looked at the British experience where 11+ examinations have now been discarded.

The flight over China presented a most unusual phenomenon. The ground below appeared absolutely flat and dirty white - almost cemented. While landing at Peking, where the temperature was minus six degrees centigrade, it became apparent that everything was frozen solid. The villages comprised dormitory type of structures. I was later told that they are all fitted with stoves, what in Pakistan are called Quetta stoves. At the airport our passports were taken away before deplaning and then the passengers were let loose to go anywhere they wanted. Unlike other airports, there were no separate immigration and customs enclosures for the transit passengers. 32

The Chinese pride at showing things as they are. There is not the slightest attempt at whitewashing.

I almost snowed into London. Mine was one of the last flights to land. It snowed heavily at night and due to union trouble flights were disrupted the following day. For the first time I directly experienced the effect of union action in England, when I had to queue up for more than an hour to get petrol. The two weeks in London passed away with the blinking of the eye. I read out my diary to Musarrat and to my daughter Monchu and they liked it very much. Later on, as an after thought, my wife teased me about the girl in the restaurant. I must say she is very understanding about these things unlike many other wives. I was glad to see the family in fine fettle. Roohi has become a permanent employee of the British civil service and her two children are really vivacious and endearing. Sarah got really attached to me. Afshan's exhibits for her postgraduate degree in graphics from the university of London really showed talent and a high degree of professionalism of which any father would be proud of. I really felt very happy that she had made such good use of her time in London. But she was still the non-conformist and the rebel which made her so unhappy with many things. Monchu as usual was the most amiable and lovable and seemed very steady in her studies for the diploma in business studies from the Harrow college. And Shelly, the darling of her daddy, and the youngest of the daughters, exuded real happiness at seeing me. I felt a real pang of separation at bidding goodbye to her.

1979

Due to delay the flight landed at Narita on Monday morning instead of the previous night, as Narita closes down at 2300 hours. The countryside from Narita to Tokyo was covered with snow which must have fallen during the last two weeks of the new year. The airline crew, through whose courtesy I was using their transport, dropped me at the Tokyo Hilton. I took a taxi to Ashraf's flat and after lunch left for the shinkansen station. The porterage was yen 800 for four packages at Tokyo and yen 600 at Nagoya. After nearly a forty hours journey since leaving London, I not only dozed on the shinkansen but could get up with difficulty for going to UNCRD on Tuesday morning. From Tuesday evening a peculiar thing happened to me and I could not sleep a wink till early hours of Saturday when I slept for nearly ten hours. I had only heard of the jet-lag but never experienced it before. I must say that besides some anxiety for not getting sleep, I had no adverse effect of any kind. 33

There are quite a few departures scheduled in the near future, including mine, from the UNCRD which had prompted a spate of dinners and parties. The one tradition which I like at UNCRD is the practice of dining with the person one evening without an advance preparation. This is an occasion on which the maximum number of the staff of the UNCRD participate and everyone goes Dutch on this occasion. My friend Dong from Vietnam is the prime mover of most such parties. Mike Douglas was leaving UNCRD after nearly a two years stay. He also confided to me that he was getting married to a Japanese girl before leaving for East Angalia University in UK. I was quite touched by another member of the staff at UNCRD in the accounts section Terao Kazuhiko, when he came and told me that he would like me to know that he was planning to get married in March. Later on at Mike's dinner,. his fiancé also came and he told me that he wanted me to see her. She is a very beautiful Japanese girl and I complimented Tero on his choice and wished him all happiness and prosperity. In Japan the usual custom is to add the word "san" at the end of a person's name, irrespective of the sex and irrespective of the fact whether you use the person's first name or surname, while calling the person. The word changes to "chan" in case of children and to persons you want to show affection. Thus I am now usually addressed as "Khansan".

Haruo Nagamine called me over to his house and his wife treated me to a most sumptuous "sukiyaki" dinner. Just as Haruo had introduced me to "shabu-shabu" this was my first introduction to sukiyaki. The only difference I found was that instead of water on the stove in the pan, this time food such as beef and vegetables and weeds were fried in very little oil. It was a delicious meal. The Japanese are quite innovative and versatile in their food. In Tokyo I had found a very good Indian food restaurant to which Nasim from the embassy had taken me. Most of the exotic food of sea weeds and mushrooms were indeed discovered during the war out of sheer necessity but now these are delicacies. Haruo also showed me the pack of new year's cards he had received. The Japanese new year card is usually no more than a plain white card (obtained from the post office) with new year's greetings printed on it and the sender usually rubber stamps his address on it. It seems to be only a custom to keep in touch by notifying one's address once a year. Haruo also showed some cards wherein information had been given that because of a death in the family, the sender will not be posting a new year's card. The objective of intimating one's whereabouts as also the bereavement is thus achieved. No wonder that each Japanese receives hundreds of cards. The post office to encourage purchase of their cards also assign numbers to 34

cards which could win prizes subsequently at a national draw.

Ralph Diaz again took me to his house to spend a weekend. Surprisingly enough it has been a very mild winter in Nagoya. There has been no snowfall as yet. Ralph drove me around the countryside and also took me to Seto famous for its ceramics. I had a most enjoyable time. I had always found sakae area choked with taxis whenever I passed that way at night and Ralph explained that most of the Japanese do not straight go to home and make a detour through drinking places, night-clubs, cabarets, etc., mostly at company account since expense accounts can be debited towards tax exemption, hence companies are quite liberal in this respect. Although Japanese girls work before marriage but after marriage, it is looked down upon. The trend seems to be changing now and nearly 30% of the married women now work. Overall compared to her western counterparts, the Japanese housewife is more domesticated. In big cities cramped housing conditions and lack of gainful employment, while the husbands are away at work and they usually return late and leave early because of distances and the detour mentioned earlier, is giving rise to many social and psychological problems.

My stay in Japan was almost coming to an end. Yogo, the UNCRD agriculture and rural development expert, therefore, suggested that I might like to visit some of the places to which a study tour of the fellows to the forthcoming UNCRD training course was being arranged. On Monday morning of the last week of my stay, Oya, research associate at UNCRD, came to fetch me from the hotel. On the way to Gifu, we picked up Kanno another of the recently recruited research assistants at the UNCRD. Kanno belongs to the house building finance corporation of Japan. Unlike Pakistan, the Japanese corporation undertakes actual construction of housing estates, there is another institution which issues only credit to private individuals for building houses. The Pakistan HBFC only issues credit.

In fact Kanno lives in one of the housing estates built by the corporation. There are still over 1,000 flats lying vacant in the estate quite contrary to the expectations of the corporation. It is an estate built on the outskirts of Nagoya by almost levelling little hillocks and mounds. I teased Kanno that at this rate very soon most of the mounds and hills would disappear from Japan. Gifu is the adjoining prefecture to Aichi, in which Nagoya is situated. Our first visit was to Gifu agricultural college. Although education here is totally subsidised but the competition for vacancies at the college is only 1.25 candidates for each place. The college gives practical training in agricultural 35

farming including livestock and is more a vocational institution than a traditional one. In fact it is an attempt on the part of the Japanese authorities to keep Japanese agriculture alive. Agriculture demands more hard work and gives less return compared to industry and no wonder Japanese farmer and his children are turning away from agriculture. I was a little disappointed to see the condition of the farm attached to the college. Although 27 acres in area, very large in terms of Japanese land holdings, the farm was running at a loss. I had hoped for a better performance of the public sector in Japan but it seems the public sector is the same all over the world, whether it is Japan or Pakistan. The cost per student (for a two-year farm management course) comes to 1.85 million yens to the prefecture. It is a heavy investment but it is worth the effort to save Japanese agriculture. 90% of the students do take up farming, according to the college authorities.

Our next visit was to Ena, where we visited the Tono dairy farm cooperative federation of four primary societies which in turn had federated 32 primary societies. This is one of the cooperatives under the Ena multipurpose cooperative federation with a total membership of 3,000 formal (0.3 ha or more) and 3,000 quasi-formal members. Cent per cent of the eligible members were within the federation's membership. The Ena federation had specialised associations pertaining to rice, broiler, hog-raising, beef-cattle, milk and horticulture. The Tono one was the milk one. The organizational structure in Japan is at its acme. The visit to Gifu livestock prefectural corporation took us to the real interior of the countryside. The corporation purchases young heifers (3 months old) at yen 37,000 and sells them 21 to 23 months later at yen 370,000 at no profit no loss basis. This farmland has been developed in collaboration with the national government which has another 38 such farm pasture lands in the country run by farmland development agency. We were very proudly informed by the director of the Gifu farm that his was the only one running on no profit no loss basis, all other government pastures were running at a loss. He also showed his three Australian dogs, in proper pay of the prefecture to guard the animals. The drive back was very interesting and enjoyable. We drove on the road skirting along the hill at an elevation while down below we kept on passing by one town after the other including Tajimi famous for its ceramics. I thanked Oya for a most illuminating and beautiful outing for the day.

Now that my nearly six months stay in Japan has come to an end. When I reflect back the most prominent thing that overshadows all other impressions is the characteristic of the people that inhabit the land of the rising sun. Honjo, Haruo, Kawashima, Yugo, Oya, Hosaka, Hirako, Kando, 36

Muto, Torie, Hasegewa, Masako, Jurko, Tutsumi, Takayama, Hirano, Teramura and umpteen others whom I met inside UNCRD and outside such as Kitamura and the hotel staff. Dong, though a Vietnamese, contributed greatly to my understanding of the Japanese people and so did Roy Kelly. Of course to Ralph Diaz, I not only owe my visit to Japan but also many happy and pleasant days that I spent there.

To me the Japanese, as a people, impressed most. There is a basic minimum standard of courtesy which every Japanese man or woman, irrespective of his acquaintance with you, extends to every foreigner. To win over a Japanese confidence is an extremely difficult and tortuous process. By nature he appears to be suspicious and nervous (being conditioned to homogeneity) of the foreigners and it takes a long time before he really opens up his heart to you. But, despite his inherent reservations, he would never make you feel uncomfortable or be discourteous. However, once you win over his confidence, he is all on your side and nothing will shake his confidence in you. On the whole the Japanese are the most organized, civic minded, law abiding and courteous people have seen anywhere in the world.

Japan Revisited

January 1993

Last time when I visited Japan I kept a diary, at the behest of some my of friends in Manila. Unfortunately, two of those friends, Mohammad Ahmad and Tariq Jaffrey are now no more in this world and so also the friend whose wife had warned me against the fast women of Japan. Since, February 1979, when I left Japan, I spent four years in Sri Lanka, where also I kept a diary and then in Dec.1982 I returned to Pakistan to initiate and implement the Aga Khan foundation's rural development programme-- AKRSP.I started keeping a diary in Gilgit, but the pressure of work did not allow me to do so, after the initial few days. However, I did write many notes for record of my visits and meetings, along with a monthly record of my daily activities. This material would provide enough food for thought , if I ever sit down to record my impressions of the ten years that I spent in Gilgit.

The heart-rending tragedy of my daughter and her two children's demise in a gas suffocation incident, in our own house at Islamabad, on Dec 20,1988, made me see this world in a different 37

light. Its insignificance was brought home in the most brutal way imaginable. My daughter went away for ever but did not go away without leaving a priceless gift for me. She took away all the worldly worries from me. They pale into insignificance in the backdrop of what has happened to my family. Nothing gives me pain and nothing seems worth striving, except, perhaps, making this world a little more happier and comfortable to others. I have marvelled, like Keats, at the capacity of the human heart to suffer misery and have come to the conclusion that if my heart could bear this loss what is their to worry about now. The omens ,which used to cause concern previously(one for sorrow and two for joy),have no place in my scheme of things now. God has been very kind to me or has He really been? But ,why blame God? I cant believe that God can be that cruel. My God is a kind and benign entity and that is the way I look upon my God, whatever others may say. I cant bring myself to blame my God for an act which was cruel, senseless and uncalled for

When I received my old friend, Haruo Nagamine's letter inviting me to accept a visiting fellowship, for a year, at the Nagoya university's graduate school of international development(GSID),I was simply thrilled by the prospect. However, I knew a year would be too long to get away from the programme but I might be able to manage six months. That too seemed too long to my employers and the decision of the Prime Minister of Pakistan, in the meanwhile, to replicate AKRSP countrywide, made my visit to Nagoya even more doubtful. However, I was determined not to let down my old friend, who had already obtained six months funding from the university authorities and it would have been a real pity to allow it to lapse. I persuaded the AKRSP board of directors to allow me to go to Nagoya for three months, which they did subject to approval by AKF board, in other words by His Highness the Aga Khan. Fortunately, HH, in my meeting with him at Aiglemont in oct., himself told me that I could go to Nagoya. Having crossed all these hurdles I had now to face the opposition from my wife. Musarrat had initially jumped at the idea of going to Japan, but her indifferent health made it quite clear that she could not accompany me. With great difficulty, she agreed to my going to Nagoya only for one month. I was trying to figure out, how to resolve the issue, when in the meeting of the AKRSP board,feb.5 was fixed for the consideration of the report of the AKRSP strategic development committee, and I was asked to make myself available and the board agreed to pay for my fare from Nagoya and back. I took a sigh of relief that at least one hurdle was over. I have still to plan the strategy for returning to Nagoya. But I know, ultimately, Musarrat will agree to what would be best in my interest. I only wish she would do so, without making me go through all this. Just before, I was to leave, a note came from the 38

planning division that the Prime Minister has desired that I should be present at the briefing on social action programme( SAP),likely to be held in the next few days. I kept my fingers crossed that the date should be prior to my flight to Japan on January 4.Fortunately,the briefing was fixed for dec.30,but was then postponed sine die, and the finance minister told me that it is likely to be in march.

At last, despite all these hurdles, January 4 came and Musarrat saw me off at the Islamabad Airport and the same evening I boarded the PIA flight to Tokyo PK760.At the Karachi departure lounge Mrs. Shahryar, who had come to see off someone, complained at not seeing us at their sons wedding. She felt somewhat flustered at being politely informed that she forgot to send us an invitation. The flight arrived at Narita airport after thirteen hours, including stoppages at Bangkok and Manila, at 1230 hours(0830PST).The passage through immigration and customs was very smooth. Fortunately, my travel agents had made the booking on the Nagoya flight, although they had been unable to issue a ticket on JAL, otherwise I would have been stranded, as the flight was fully booked. Although I did cash US$200 to pay for a return ticket to Nagoya, the JAL ticketing counter accepted the American express card, thus leaving the yens with me for future use. The Nagoya flight was not due to fly till 1910 hrs .The time passed, somehow, as I had no interest in the duty free shopping or looking at the giant size TV screens, showing all kinds of advertisements, with a smattering of some comprehensible programmes. The 40 minute flight was very smooth and the economy class seat given to me on the upper deck was better than PIA's first class seats. It was a welcome change to be offered hot soup, instead of cold drink, tea or coffee, during the short flight with a second helping. Nagoya airport also receives international flights but we were given forms, at Narita, certifying immigration and customs check, hence our clearance was quick. However, the baggage did take time in arriving and poor Haruo had to wait for a while. I was very pleased to see him outside. I had already informed him on phone about my arrival from Narita. The drive, from the airport to the international residence of Nagoya university, took about half an hour. The apartment, comprised a bedsitter, kitchen and bathroom. Unlike, my previous room at the new plaza hotel, this accommodation was most spacious, almost six times larger without including the kitchen and the bathroom. Haruo had very thoughtfully purchased a few things for my breakfast .However, noticing that there was no cutlery or crockery, Haruo borrowed some from the office. After he had left I realized that there were no towels either. Nothing could be done now .It was already late at night. I had not eaten anything, since the hamburger at Narita airport and the soup during the flight. Haruo's bread, butter and marmalade 39

came in handy. While, seeing off Haruo I espied a pay telephone fixed on the sidewall in the foyer. I tried to call Pakistan and got the Islamabad number in no time and was able to inform Musarrat about my safe arrival, which took her by surprise, as she was not expecting me to reach Nagoya before the evening. Of course, it was evening in Nagoya, although it was still late noon in Islamabad.

The next morning Haruo came to take me to the university, which was hardly five minutes walk from the international residence. The graduate school for international development (GSID) is the latest addition to the Nagoya university's Hashigayama campus. It is a brand new small building, housing only the administrative block. Most of the faculty is housed in other buildings. I have been given a room in the school of economics, where Haruo was a professor, before he moved to GSID, of which he is a founder member. I was introduced to the administrative staff, as well as to the dean of the school. As a visiting fellow, I have been given the status of a professor and the amenities have accordingly been extended to me. My next door neighbour is an assistant professor looking after affairs of the foreign students. Haruo introduced me to her, and Matsuura was most helpful, in getting my bank account opened and shopping done .I am now fully fortified to look after the apartment and chores, such as cooking, laundry, cleaning etc. I was marvelling at the transformation that in Pakistan I needed servants for each of these activities, and here I was managing everything from making bed, hovering, washing clothes, drying and ironing them and on top of it doing shopping on foot at a market two km away and preparing my own breakfast and dinner. I could not believe that I could do all this and with such ease. Haruo also solved my problem of the plugs for Japanese sockets for my laptop and the shaver, by asking one of his students, Kanako Suzuki, to take me to the foreigners market. In Japan, deviation has no place and causes tremendous problems, and unless you know how to go about it, you simply end up moving in circles.

The Hashigayama campus is very compact and functional with over ten thousand students and four thousand teachers and university staff. The two landmarks are the library and the rather drab and concrete Toyota auditorium. It has a number of eating places, from cheap cafeterias(yen300- 400) to restaurants(yen550-1500),and two COOPs, where almost all necessities of a student's daily life can be had. Haruo has introduced me to almost all the cuisine available on the campus, including a tiny eating place in the school of economics itself, to be made use of during stormy weather. I have met quite a few members of the GSID faculty at luncheons, thanks to Haruo, who 40

were all extremely nice and helpful .One of them, a Ph. D from Chicago ,hearing about the lack of linen and crockery etc. in the apartment, very kindly sent quite a few things to me, next day.

I have had discussions with Haruo to chalk out my work plan and he agreed with my idea of working on a book, of which one chapter could focus on the concept and the operational principles of rural development, as distilled through my experience of implementing rural development programmes in different locations of the world.

Three weeks have gone by ,and I hardly got time to attend to the diary. Today is the beginning of the third weekend. The last weekend was an extended one, because Friday was a public holiday. It was, in fact, what the British call the "debutante day" ,all the Japanese girls, who turn twenty, celebrate the day and it is dedicated to them. Unfortunately, for the first time in twenty years, it turned out to be a rainy day. Hence, not many girls were to be seen, yet some still braved the weather in their Kimonos. Japan is not the same as I had found it ,almost fourteen years ago. One can see the signs of decadence, as one sees in the western societies. I am reminded of what Prof. Galbraith said in 1978,during his visit to Japan. When asked to give impressions of his visit, he observed that the people of Japan appear apprehensive that this prosperity is not going to last. It seems that his foreboding was not too far away from the truth. Japan does not exude that confidence and panache, as visible last time. I wonder ,if it is the change of area, because last time I was living in Sakae, but the place seems run down, as if people no more worry about cleanliness, as they used to do in the past. The international residence is a magnificent building, but its upkeep leaves much to be desired. So also the university buildings and its toilets or the computer rooms. No one is bothered to remove the dust from the machines, although these are constantly in use. I was surprised to see squatting type toilets ,in the university buildings. The change in Japanese behavior is also quite perceptible. There is no more that enthusiastic "hie", which was the hallmark of Japanese women. You seldom hear it now. The dress is almost westernized. In restaurants, the fork and spoon has dethroned the chopsticks, unless you go to a restaurant, serving only Japanese cuisine, in Japanese style. The language is still holding its sway, and you would hardly come across English speaking Japanese, but a lot many more people understand English. But the basic characteristic of the people is unchanged. When I asked someone in Motoyama to tell me the way to the subway. Since he could not explain in English, he insisted on taking me to the subway entrance, although this was in the opposite direction, to 41

where he was going. There is still no system of tips and in restaurants and taxis, you only pay what is written on the menu or displayed on the meter.

My main worry has been my walks. In Islamabad, the one hour climb on trail no.3.has almost become a ritual with me in the early mornings, since I gave up jogging, after Manchu's departure, and afternoon walks to her grave, because it took the whole evening away. So I compromised, by resorting to morning hike and going to Manchu in the afternoons, by car. I had not realized that in Japan, I will have to follow a very strict regimen, as far as office hours are concerned. I had imagined that since most of my work would be writing. I shall keep my own hours .I was shocked, that you may be a professor but the rules demand ,that you should be seen to have put in forty hours a week and to ensure this you are required to sign a register, every morning at 0830 and stay in your office room till 1700 hours .On my first visit to GSID,I was promptly shown the register and my room in the school of economics. When Haruo suggested I may sign the register, in the school of economics, as I would be sitting there ,the response was a polite no. The GSID staff wanted to make sure that they saw my face every morning at 0830 hours. But I had my revenge on them when one day none of the office staff had arrived and I found the office door locked. I am sure this must have caused quite a bit of consternation. Haruo had already warned me not to come before nine or nine thirty, as no one would be there. I know that the professors do not come early, unless they have a class. Anyway it is quite convenient for me to be early. Now with that kind of regimentation, I hardly got any time on week days to go for walks. On the first Saturday , therefore, I ventured out to explore my walking trail .I had been told that there was the Higashiyama park in the vicinity, but it was more of a zoo and children's fun fare than a park for walks, and you had to pay to get into it .The walk I took, going along the road, did take me to Higashiyama park and when I thought I had lost my way ,I came out near the university campus .I was quite pleased with my discovery because I had walked for nearly one hour forty five minutes. The next day I was bolder and explored another road on the same route and didn't get lost. The next week end, I ventured even in a rather lonely looking park, which had some features of trail no.3.I was very pleased with this discovery and now I feel that I have discovered a reasonable walking trail, which would give me enough exercise on weekends. At times I did feel a little frightened of all the lonely places I was venturing in, but it was totally unfounded. The Japanese, especially the youth, are extremely well behaved and you don't see the kind of rowdyism, you find in the west.

42

On the weekend, following my arrival, Haruo came with his daughter, to take me out for dinner. Ryoko is almost Shelley's age and is doing her master's in development at the GSID. Her course is different from the one Haruo teaches .The GSID has two concurrent master's courses ,with about 24 students ,in each course .Haruo is very pleased at Ryoko's full recovery, from the very serious automobile hit and run accident ,in Delhi ,causing her head injuries. Haruo's eldest son, who had told us last time that he wanted to be a critic of pornographic literature, is now married and lives in Tokyo .His second son is studying for a doctoral degree, at one of the national universities .The dinner at kumar ,an Indian restaurant, was very enjoyable. Haruo himself is now quite fond of the Indian food .In fact ,he told me that his wife was complaining ,t hat his taste buds have been so destroyed by the Indian spices, that he cannot now savour her cuisine. After the dinner, we walked over to Haruo's flat, where I had dinner, with some other UNCRD friends ,fourteen years ago. The flat was very well maintained and looked almost new. Mrs. Nagamine entertained us to tea and pastry, and insisted on my taking some of the oranges to my room. Haruo also showed me the carved wooden flower pot, I had given him last time, displayed in the sitting room. The three Siamese cats ,Mrs. .Nagamine's pets, were quite a source of amusement to the whole family, although Haruo kept on complaining about the nuisance they make by dirtying curtains, sofa and the floor. He had to change the sofa cloth to synthetic leather. As, Mrs. Nagamine, got her driving license ,after years of effort, Haruo said that she would be very happy to drive me back to the international residence. We had gone for dinner on a bus. Kumar is situated quite close to Haruo's flat. This gave me an opportunity to give Mrs. Nagamine the two cushion covers, Musarrat had given me for her. The covers fitted perfectly, Haruo told me the next day. I had ,already happily noted, t hat there were quite a few cushions sitting on the sofas ,in Haruo's sitting room and the covers were just the right thing for them.

The life at international residence has fallen in a routine, without much ado. On week days, after a bread ,butter, marmalade and tea breakfast, I am off to the university or more specifically to room no.330,in the school of economics ,via GSID.I have lunch at the university. Sometimes ,when Haruo is free, he rings up and we eat together. Twice, so far, I was befriended by strangers, who came and sat on the same table as mine. One of them happened to be a Singaporean, who studied in Japan, and was now teaching here. Coincidentally, he is also attached to GSID. He seemed a very friendly type and gave his address and telephone number. At one of the lunches, Haruo had introduced me to another foreigner, a Burmese, who after his studies in Japan, had started teaching. But foreigners are not allowed to stay for more than three years at national 43

universities. This is why, Dr Maung Maung Lwin, although he had taken his doctorate from Nagoya university, was now transferring himself to a private university, which ,besides offering him a full professorship was prepared to keep him for as long as he wished to stay. There are 95 national and 35 private universities in Japan .On the other occasion, the three gentlemen ,who came and sat on my table, were professors from Tokyo and Osaka universities .They had come to attend a symposium of scientists. The professor of physics, from Tokyo University, knew Prof. Salam and spoke very highly of him. Prof .Takao Koda had spent nearly 25 years in the United States .He asked me the reason for communal trouble in India and Pakistan. I had not the heart to tell him that, as far as ,Pakistan is concerned, the height of intolerance is so intense that many Pakistanis would like to disown, one of Pakistan's most illustrious son, because they don't like his religion. He also enquired about Benazir's background and being a woman how did she become the prime minister of Pakistan? In India he said he was always berated by Indian women scientists for the absence of Japanese women scientists. He said that his wife was complaining all the time that half of the household work must be done by men. In his view, it would be a disaster if women leave the household work and the responsibility of looking after the family. His views ,he said ,were reinforced by the Nobel laureate in physics from China, who has spent a long time in the US, and has come to the conclusion that all the problems of the west are because the institution of the family has been destroyed. The east must preserve the family. When I asked what his wife thought of this idea. He laughed away. On the question of competition, he did not feel alarmed at the level of competition between Japan and US. He felt it was a healthy thing that no one country should have the monopoly.

I have digressed quite a bit, I was talking about the routine at the international residence. On return from the university, after an hour's rest and tea, I go down to the lobby to read the English newspapers--The Japan Times and The Daily Yomiuri--and to listen to the 7 O' Clock news, which has an English interpretation. Fortunately ,there is no TV in the room, but one can hire ,if so desired. In fact, there are a number of discarded TV sets lying next to the gate and one can pick one from there, as some of the inmates do. However ,I feel that I am much better off, without the TV .Fortunately again, as all the channels are in Japanese, so there is no great temptation to get a TV. But if you have one, even if it is in Japanese, you are inclined to watch it. As I used to do, last time, in the new plaza hotel. However, I did feel the need for a telephone very badly .I felt as if I was cut off from rest of the world .In fact the feeling was so intense, that I made it a point to ring up Musarrat every evening from the pay phone. One day I was informed that after 11 pm ,the 44

charges for international calls are less than half. This meant going down to the foyer, late at night in freezing wind and many a time find that someone had already beaten you to the phone. Thanks to Matsuura and Haruo's giving the guarantee ,I got the phone within a week, after paying refundable deposits of yen 4000 to COOP and yen 10,000 to NTT(the telephone company).However, the rental for the phone is only yen 1500 per month. Luckily, there was an instrument already lying in my room, so I was not required to buy one. Initially, I had thought, that the telephone instrument was a toy one, which has kissphone and 007 written on it. But it was real and after it had been activated, Islamabad and London were only seconds away-0019251827210 and 00144819054487.It is incredible and so reassuring.

The apartment in the international residence is very functional. While you are making your breakfast, you can also dress. The frig. ,the washing machine(whose secrets were unravelled to me by a Goanese Indian, living in the residence),the gas cooker are all very handy. The Goanese also showed me the public laundry on the 7th floor, with coin dryers. My first laundry, even after the drying ,had to be dried on the washing line in the balcony, at the back of my room. However, the second time I was wiser and instead of 100 yen for 15 minutes, I put 200 yen for half an hour and the clothes came out crisp and dry. Laundry seemed to be the biggest headache, but now it is child's play. I can't understand, why we make so much fuss back home .The bed sheets and pillow cases are changed every 15 days and one has to turn in the dirty ones to get the fresh ones from the office. The office also provides the vacuum cleaner and an iron ,to be returned, immediately after use. I normally need these once a week for about half an hour. The Japanese bread ,almost an inch thick ,was a bit of a nuisance, till I discovered a French bakery closeby selling long crispy bread. The Japanese mostly eat the sticky rice .I was quite taken aback ,when Kanoko Suzuki, who has been to Pakistan ,told me that she did not like the famous basmati and preferred the sticky rice ,any time. Well every one has a right to his or her own taste. On the food front I have no problems with any kind of food. I find the Japanese food very nutritious and light, whatever it may consist of. The other day the students of GSID, threw a dinner party to welcome two new students for the spring session. Haruo asked me to join in and I was touched by their gesture of welcoming me also with a red bouquet of roses. The dinner was in the common room, which had been converted into a makeshift diner-cum-kitchenette. The table was laden with all kinds of salads, mushrooms, vegetables, meats and sauces. On the floor four portable gas stoves had pots full of boiling water sitting on them. We all squatted in front of the stoves and picked up 45

salads and meats from the boiling water into our bowls, which already had soya sauce with some other ingredients in it. This went on for nearly a couple of hours till everyone was full to the brim and our fingers started aching with too much use of chopsticks and the legs became numb because of the stoppage of circulation of blood. Of course I cheated by occasionally lifting myself up on the chair. Haruo told me that this was the traditional winter meal to keep warm. The students could not have arranged it on a more appropriate day, because the whole of Nagoya was covered in a blanket of snow .I found the occasion an excellent way to welcome foreign students and to get them acquainted with the senior students. By the end of the party the Thai students were feeling so at home ,as if they had been at the university for quite some time. The slide show of the students visit to Thailand had to be abandoned mid-stream because of a fused bulb .As the slide projector was of an American make all the blame was heaped on the lone American student in the group, although his parents originally came from Japan .In Japan also people prefer to be known by their first names as some surnames, like Khans in Pakistan, are so common that without the first name it would be hard to place them. I did not realize that Watanabe, Kato etc were in that category of surnames .I had always thought that our Eimi Watanabe of UNICEF(now representative in India) had a distinctive surname. There is a student in GSID with Watanabe surname and she insisted on being called by her first name Keiko.

The first snowfall in Nagoya had been predicted by the weather man as a fifty fifty probability. Although the morning was sunny and bright, but in deference to the weatherman's forecast I picked up the umbrella and sure enough before noon the snow came. I had to brave the cold biting wind and occasional flakes of snow for going for lunch to the restaurant on the hill. By the late after afternoon almost a blizzard was blowing. By the time we finished dinner at GSID everything was blanketed in snow .The snow had stopped when I made my way to the international residence ,a five minutes walk, and everything looked heavenly in pure white. It was a scene they crave for in England on Christmas. The trees and ornamental plants looked even more beautiful with snow. The ground had become slightly treacherous to tread but was still easily manageable The next day snow started melting and by the evening all traces of snow had disappeared. But it did usher a cold blast of weather into Nagoya, in an otherwise rather warm winter.

As I had not thanked Prof. Arayama (the Chicago Ph.D.),who had very kindly sent me quite a few things, I gave him a call to invite him to lunch. He regretted his inability because of another 46

luncheon engagement. However a few minutes later he came to invite me to lunch with an American professor .Dr. Tweeten was from Ohio state university and his discipline was agricultural economics. He had been to Pakistan twice and knew Prof. Naqvi of PIDE very well, with whom he said he loved to discuss Islamic economics. Prof. Tweeten was quite an opinionated academic and when he came to know that rural development was my field, he declared that the text book on rural development he wrote in 1976 is still being used. He had, of course, not heard of Dr. Akhter Hameed Khan and did not know any of the Americans, who had either been associated with rural development academies or had worked in Pakistan. He was otherwise quite a good conversationalist. When I asked him if he agreed with what Galbraith had said in 1978 about Japan. He fully agreed that so long as Japan was trying to catch up with the west, it was easy. But having caught up it is most difficult to go beyond .He felt that like US, Japan will also have to turn to the service sector for Asia and unlike the productive sector, it is far more difficult to make inroads in this sector. We went for lunch to a very nice Japanese restaurant, on a very nice bright day, along with four other staff members of the GSID and the school of economics .I thoroughly enjoyed the food and the company.

Even after Husain Wali had installed a computer in my chinar inn suite, I did not go near it for months, although I also acquired a laptop in the meanwhile. It was only a few weeks before I was due to leave for Japan that I realized that it was either now or never.

Husain Wali had always said that for me the most important use of the computer would be the ability to carry lot of documentation abroad while on tour and at home be able to review materials and documents easily. I only realized the importance of what he was saying when the material I wanted to carry to Japan weighed in hundreds of kilos, which could easily have been transferred on no more than a dozen discs. I had to perforce leave the material to Rauf to transfer it on floppies. At last the day came when Anis sent one of his staff to ingratiate me to the mystique of the laptop. I started using the machine which was the best thing to do. I kept on jotting down the problems and getting these sorted out. On one occasion I got stuck for more than half a day before I could get Anis on phone and I was unstuck in a second. In all I took three lessons before I was on my way to Japan. The main problem I faced here was how to get the prints out. Fortunately everyone was very helpful especially the students. It was quite a job using university computers, some of which are bi-lingual, otherwise they are in Japanese. Once I spent an hour and could not access to the WordPerfect. Thanks to Kanako and a Zaire student Mbuli Boliko I 47

have almost got over most of problems with the computer as regards printing. Haruo has been most impressed at the speed I have been able to churn out mistake free drafts. I had to let him in about the secret of "spell check" .However, the saying that little knowledge is a dangerous thing was brought home to me when one day being stuck on something very minor, I resorted to the corrective told to me by Anis once and the consequence was disaster. The laptop was totally out of action and all efforts, including summons to the local Toshiba man, came to naught. In Japan they do not use DOS 4.0.Deviation has no place in Japan. Fortunately I had all my work copied on floppies and the GSID had a spare laptop, which professors Ezaki and Osada personally delivered to me. I was most touched by their solicitude and was highly indebted to Haruo for suggesting that I contact them. Although it happened only two weeks before I was due to leave but without the laptop I was feeling totally immobilised.

I have almost finished my contractual obligation of writing a thirty page paper on theoretical framework and operational principles of rural development, as laid down in my contract with the president of the Nagoya university, before I leave for Pakistan on Feb. 2,to attend the meeting of the strategic development committee of the AKRSP at Karachi. I have also given one of the three lectures, which Haruo wanted me to undertake. The next two are scheduled for February 17 and march 18.But as already agreed with Haruo, the rest of the time I will devote to preparing the draft of the proposed book, which would include the paper already finished in draft form. In addition, on Haruo's request I have so far reviewed three theses written by students in satisfaction of the requirement for their master's degree. I have also been giving tutorial to one student regarding the subject of her master's thesis. It has been altogether a very refreshing and stimulating experience. The university environment is a world in itself and I have found it a very happy and enjoyable one, so far. Sitting in my room on third floor of the school of economics I have watched aeroplanes coming in to land at Nagoya runway, like big beautiful birds gleaming in the sunshine and sometimes very subdued in the dull of the weather. The students hurrying past presents another spectacle. The room is like my sanctuary. No one comes to disturb you, except perhaps an odd visitor or the cleaning woman in the morning. The room has an ante room equipped with a gas stove and a wash basin. You have freedom to make as many cups of tea or coffee in the electric percolator, as you may wish. I don't feel like having more than two--one at 1030,which sometimes I miss and the other at 3 pm You are entirely to yourself. You can contemplate, you can ponder, you can reflect, you can gaze in the oblivion or you write or to be precise do word processing. There is complete freedom. No mundane chores are waiting to harass you. One is completely at 48

peace with oneself.

Suddenly the telephone extension in my room rang. It seldom does because but for Haruo hardly anybody calls me on the extension. I can make local calls directly by getting the line but for out station calls I have to get the exchange. Haruo had told me that this might pose problems due to language, but the numbers the operator would understand. I took a chance and asked for our Embassy number in Tokyo and got it despite initial mix up in number. The ambassador Mr. Mansoor was very polite and invited me to stay with him next time I was in Tokyo. I tried another number, on another day, and got that too. This was of Masahiko Honjo, who was director of UNCRD during my time in 1978-79.He was very happy to speak to me, although he had been quite seriously ill recently. Yes the person on the other side, who rang me up was my good old Vietnamese friend Nugyen Tri Dong(pronounced Yong).He had arrived at the UNCRD a week after I joined the centre. I was most impressed by his friendly and mild manners and soon we became very good friends. Dong was most helpful to me in introducing Japanese cuisine .Dong had come to know about my arrival from Haruo. He was most warm and enthusiastic on the phone and promised to see me soon. I suggested why doesn't he come to the residence on Saturday and have lunch with me. Dong promised to get in touch again. I was, therefore, pleasantly surprised to see him getting down from his car, while I was taking the rubbish bag to dump. Dong had not changed much except that age had matured his boyish looks a bit. A Vietnamese couple is also staying at the residence and Dong invited them also to lunch and took us to a nearby Chinese restaurant, which had excellent decor and food. The Vietnamese couple were just as mild and pleasant mannered as I had found Dong, nearly fifteen years ago. Dong had to attend a meeting, so we three offered to walk back to the residence, in fact I was planning to go to Motoyama to do my weekly shopping. But the wind was so biting that I decided to pick up my coat. Dong ,before he left, said that he might drop in again if the meeting finishes soon. I had done my shopping and was just about to plug in the laptop, when the bell rang and there was Dong again. He insisted on my going to his house to meet his family, as his wife had not been able to come in the morning due to the indisposition of his a year and half old daughter. I showed Dong what I had written about him in my diary, when I had first met him. Reading about his wife Yen ,Dong explained that following the defection of a Vietnamese trainee from UNCRD, Dong became a prime suspect in the eyes of the Viet Nam government and Yen's family also came under lot of pressure, so much so that the family decided to migrate to Australia. They wanted Dong to migrate also. As he did not want to do so it ended in their separation. Dong is now 49

married to a Japanese. I was quite surprised when I asked her what I should bring from Pakistan and she showed a disc of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. She works in a Japanese advertising agency .Dong is living in a posh locality of Nagoya in a brand new block of apartments. But the whole of his flat could easily fit into the room of my international residence apartment. However ,the flat had every amenity of life. We sat on the dining table and the food was served to us from the portable stove lying on the table. Something of the same type that I had tasted at students dinner at GSID. Considering that Dong had hardly given any advance notice of my visit, Mrs. Dong had prepared an excellent dinner. For dessert we had the juiciest honey-dew melon and Vietnamese sweet. Dong also showed me a video ,made by the Japanese TV, on the work he is doing in Viet Nam. He has opened vocational training schools, by donations of second hand sewing machines reconditioned from Japan, and by introducing computers in Vietnamese schools .He is now planning to set up an institute for social and economic development of Viet Nam. He wants me to be one of the honorary directors of the institute .I was very impressed by Dong's enthusiasm to do as much as he could for his country .He was quite taken up by the idea of an AKRSP type non- profit joint stock company to undertake development. He said it was very difficult for the Viet Nam government to understand that any other agency besides government can undertake development. Business and commercial activities are looked down upon. I invited Dong to come to Pakistan and look for himself how he can undertake such an initiative.

The international residence is an eight storyed building with three wings A,B and C.I have so far been acquainted with two Indians(Dr Ashwani Kumar Roy and Brahm Pal Singh),an American and a Romanian and the Viet Namese couple, whom Dong introduced me the other day.

The telephone has really proved a boon. Musarrat now calls me up every alternate day and if by any chance her call is delayed I can find out in no time the reason for delay. The telephone has almost made it possible for me to feel that I am not at all so far away from my near and dear ones, whether they are in Islamabad or in London.

YAMAGISHI VILLAGE

I wanted to visit a rural area of Japan and on Prof. Nagamine's suggestion I agreed to accompany a group, including some GSID students, on a trip scheduled for Sunday and Monday the 7th and 8th of March,1993.As the weather turned out to be wet, it was decided to call off the earlier start 50

which might have given us time to do some exploration on our own in the village. I met the group at 1230hrs at the Motoyama subway station. There were two GSID students, Inbal from Israel and Goto from Japan, besides Aki another Japanese but studying English at the close by private university Nunzan. Only a couple of days ago on Haruo's invitation I had attended a concert given by the malechoir of the Nunzan. We travelled to the Nagoya station by the subway and then changed over to a suburban train, which in an hour's time took us to a place called Tsu (pronounced Sue).From there we took a 15-20 minutes bus ride and after a wrong alight got to the right destination. By now it had started raining and we had a ten minutes walk ahead of us. Since I was not sure what would be available at the village as a precautionary measure I had packed almost everything including a towel because like my first night at the International Residence I did not wish to be stranded without the essential items. This meant that unlike the members of the group who were happily treading along with nothing to carry except very light bags I had rather substantial weight to cart along. The others very kindly offered help but I deserved to carry my own burden for my foolhardiness or being extra careful. As soon as we got off the bus rain and hail started falling. On top of all this we seemed to be groping for the way. Gotosan tried a few doors but without much success. In the meanwhile we espied a lady coming our way but she was in the same boat as us. She had come all the way from Hukkaido and was also looking for Yamagishi village. In fact there was only one main road so there was no question of our going astray but Gotosan wanted to be sure that the village was not off one of the side roads. I must state here that without the guidance of Gotosan and Akisan the journey would not have been so smooth. The little mix up at the end wasted no more than a few minutes of our time and very soon we were at the Yamagashi village reception centre. This reminded me of the AKRSP visitors centre in Gilgit.

We were soon joined by Mr. Hashiguchi and Ms Tokyo, who introduced themselves as the guide and the interpreter, respectively. Tokayasan informed that she had an American husband. Since the reception room was crowded Hashiguchisan suggested that we shift to another place. This turned out to be room 304 of the dormitory which Gotosan and I were to occupy for the night and the adjoining room was for the girls. This was the typical Japanese style room with sliding doors and cushions on the matted floor. The room was very comfortably heated. We soon settled down on our cushions and I next to Tokayosan since Inbal is quite proficient in Japanese.

Speaking in Japanese Hashiguchisan explained that Yamagashi was a friendly village inhabited 51

by 700 adults and 800 children. No one needs money in this village because all their requirements are met from the common stores and everyone is at liberty to draw from the stores whatever he needs. The food is available in the different cafeterias and things bought from outside are paid for from the common fund.

Inbal explained that in the Kibuttuz in Israel also there is communal living but there is a limit on how much you can consume or spend and that is regulated through a system of coupons. Of course, some common services like food in cafeteria, school facilities, laundry, barbershop etc are available to everyone ad lib, but other goods have to be paid for through coupons. Hashiguchisan wondered why you need coupons when there is unlimited access to money available according to your needs. He said that Yamagishi's (YG) basic tenet is TRUTH but if a principle formulated on the interpretation of truth at a given time does not work it is changed because the thinking might change the truth. The process through which this is attained is called KENSAN. There is no leader in YG. Everyone has a role or a job. My job is to meet the visitors, to guide them and take them to relevant persons. On our question that without leaders how do 1500 souls kensan? There are jobs and departments and each group can kensan whenever they feel the need. The idea is that through kensan all people should think together. There might be ten kensan a day. The meetings may be of many types on different subjects.A ny person can summon a kensan of his group if he feels the need for it.T here is a kensan every morning for every job.

Hashiguchisan explained that he joined YG because he realized it to be a new way of thinking in finding the truth but the way of thinking might change and with that the truth. We seek it all the time to make people happy because true happiness has to be unconditional and we try to seek what makes people happy? Is it money, girlfriend, wife, family ,house? What is it? Money was the most important thing to me previously .A friend told me about the YG one week workshop .I attended the workshop .It was not religion .I could see myself in the past .I was destined to get the top job but YG was offering something different--unconditional complete happiness. The workshop taught me one lesson not to get angry. Now I don't try but I don't get angry. Not being angry is the natural state.

How is the world going to develop if there is no competition? At YG there is no competition but we always work and search for better and better. New methods, new technology ,new tools because we are happy we want to make it happier. Everyone in YG makes 100% use of his or her 52

capabilities without competing and without any fear of loss of job or expectation of reward. In the paradise camp for children we don't admonish or flatter children for lapses or gains. We don't judge them by their achievements but by the effort they are putting in.

In Kibuttz the thinking is that people can be happy only if they live there? How do people living outside YG live happily? People in YG are happy because of change in their thinking and the way of looking at the world. So one can be happy wherever one may live so long as his thinking is YG. The border is not outside but inside yourself. Tokayosan said that she lived in an urban city but her mind is bound by the YG rules .In everything there is a way of thinking .For example instead of making money from the production of YG agricultural fields or cows or chicken or pigs, Yg thinking is to deliver food to so many hundreds or thousands of people and to make them happy .If people say YG products are good. That is our objective not making high profits. On the question of the evolution of YG we were informed that about forty years ago a big typhoon hit Japan destroying all crops yet the rice fields of Mr. Yamagishi remained unaffected ,his chickens were easy going and did not stink ;animals and human beings and nature seemed to be living in perfect harmony in Yamagishisan's farm. The government people were impressed and propagated Yamagishisan's techniques and his chickens spread all over Japan but people did it to make money which made Yamagishisan unhappy and he thought of YG and how to make the world happier and started one week workshops on YG. He died but people who wanted to be happy got together and these villages became Yamagishi villages. No one has forced them. There are about forty villages in Japan and also in Switzerland, Australia and Brazil.

The kensan is practised at all levels in all departments and in all spheres of human life. Through kensan an effort is made to find the best way and it is only put forth as a suggestion to the people who decide how to implement it or reject it or modify it. It is through kensan that all decisions are made .Inbal wanted to know the status of writers ,poets and artists because in Kibuttuz, which was based mainly on agricultural activities such people had no place .In YG there is no problem with such persons. They have their own jobs which are considered as valuable as other jobs. There is no distinction in terms of importance of one job and the other because all jobs contribute to human happiness. Inbal informed that in case of Kibuttuz it has not worked out this way. The objective was to make a purist society based on socialism but spiritually they try to be one with Judaism .It worked well with small number of groups, especially the farming communities but when people from urban areas, who were dissatisfied with their lives, opted for the Kibuttuz 53

problems arose. Then the people who were born and raised in the Kibuttuz wanted everything out of it as their right.

In YG everyone has equal rights irrespective of the job he is doing or the area he comes from. There is no dislike in their hearts. Anyone's problem is everyone's problem. They are all trying to find the truth. Hashiguchi's 17 year old son wants to cultivate sweet potatoes on an 8 ha. plot, not to make money but to make people happy when they eat his sweet potatoes. He was an urban child and used to behave like them. Farming is a good way for the young to learn for themselves. Children coming from cities are very self-centred but they have to learn that unless they work with others things don't happen .If someone has more knowledge that does not mean that he is better it is a simple case of his knowledge being used more.

Inbal observed that Kibuttuz tried to make a communal experiment successful, in Pakistan AKRSP is trying to eradicate poverty and have a better standard of living; YG is different. It wants to cure the sickness of urban life. YG is not saying that urban life is bad. It does not deny other ways of life .It tries to find the true way, t he happiest way. Everyone wants to go for happiness but one needs to know what is real happiness and if one can find that everyone can be happy and that is what YG is trying to find out .We are eating good food and that is making us happy while there are other countries where there is no food. How YG can arrange food for them and thus spread happiness. Our children go to neighbours and spread manure on their fields. Our neighbours now call on our children to spread manure and now the kids want to go to Africa to do so. The children are looking 100 years beyond. They are interested in forestry. They want the trees to grow for future generations here is recycling of every thing in YG. There is no concept of garbage. Everything is used and reused.

At six in the evening we broke up and had a delicious meal of YG farm produce to which Gotosan did full justice. We admired his foresight when we got our next food at ten in the morning, which again was very sumptuous and nutritious. After the meal we had a kensan with a group of people including a Swiss, who has been staying at YG for the last five years and intends to lead his whole life here and a Nigerian, who was visiting from Osaka besides half a dozen other Japanese. The discussion was held both in Japanese and English. Before the kensan we had visited the final day function of a children's paradise workshop .I was asked to give impressions of the function .I said I was impressed by the self-confidence, discipline and deference to elders 54

shown by the children. In the west with self-confidence the youth tend to become aggressive and there is little respect for age .It was good to see YG instilling and preserving the traditional values because Japan was now at the pinnacle of its industrial development like the west in the past. The west has degenerated into a decadent society because it failed to preserve its traditional values and I quoted to them the Chinese Nobel laureate, who after living 15 years in the USA ,felt that the American society has been destroyed because the family has been destroyed .The challenge for the Japanese is how to preserve the family without denying equal rights and privileges to women. YG seems to be showing the way. Hence I was very optimistic that the Japanese will be able to tide over the transformation. Gotosan and Akisan wondered about the replicablity of YG and the impact of the workshops on children in the long run who do not get the same kind of exposure as the children studying in YG academy. The Nigerian highlighted the heterogeneity of the society in most of the third world countries and the difficulty of implementing a YG type of concept in such a society. The others spoke about their experiences and their feelings about YG .Gotosan raised the larger issue of development and the impatience with long term strategies. I explained that there is no short cut and one cannot circumvent the process. Unfortunately, the third world countries in their search for short term solutions end up in increasing the problem .In south Asia alone there are over 400 million people living below the poverty line. Without a long term commitment to eradication of poverty the problem cannot be assaulted. However, it does not mean that short term measures for alleviating unemployment and increasing production should not be simultaneously taken in hand. But the decision to adopt only the latter measures to the neglect of the long term solutions would fail to achieve the objective of poverty eradication.

I was introduced for the first time to Japanese bath which was most welcome after a long day. The toilets were the recycling type and nothing was being thrown away at Yamagashi .I slept soundly on the floor in the Japanese style and had to be woken up next morning .Gotosan was an excellent roommate. I did not even notice his presence in the room.

The day began at seven on Monday the 8th march,1993.It was biting cold. A few minutes earlier it had snowed and the whole morning we kept on getting hail and rain intermittently. Hashiguchisan drove us through the different sections and departments including the 16 ha vegetable plot cultivated by the students. The animals indeed appeared very calm and relaxed and the people whether at the cow shed or students at the vegetable packing depot seemed to be busy in their work without any control or supervision being exercised on them. Everything was modernized and 55

the most sophisticated techniques of management seemed to be in operation. The YG Academy was established only nine years ago and had over 1200 residential students, two third of whom came from outside .There was even a fruit processing plant directly linked to a Brazilian village with a 10,000 ha orange plantation ,exporting the produce in a concentrate form to YG.

At the end of the field trip we again sat down for a kensan. I said what has impressed me most is the corporate structure of YG. You have created a company which is as efficient and as productive as a highly successful multi-national. Yet you follow none of their principles of incentives and competition. Your corporate structure is without a hierarchy .There is no system of productivity rewards and there is no hiring and firing. There are no managers and no supervisors and no controllers. Every worker is an equal shareholder and an equal partner. No one is more important than the other. All jobs are of equal significance. This, in my view, Is your singular achievement. Even Tolstoy and Gandhi were afraid that if the village adopts modern methods it would lose its innocence and purity .You have shown that you can retain all your values despite adopting the most modern technological advances.

By now we were hungry and Inbal more so ,who could not resist asking the question as to why you go to work in the morning on an empty stomach .It was a simple question of training your system to have only two meals a day at ten in the morning and at five in the evening.

The final kensan took place after the brunch (breakfast+ lunch) in which Hashiguchisan, on Inbal's inquiry ,expressed pleasure at having spent time with us because he learnt about so many new things like the Kibuttuz and he would like to do so more often. The purpose of making everybody happy is like a phase .He suddenly realized that he wants to kensan with people like us. Giving his impressions Gotosan said that initially he had thought that YG was a different world: separate from the other world like Kibuttz.Now he feels that YG is not a separate community. It is in peoples mind. People can have the same thought whether they are in the village or outside. People say they are happy from the heart. YG knows no boundaries. YG is in everybody's heart .Giving my final impressions I said that YG is like Utopia, which normally is considered unattainable ,but YG has tried to demonstrate that Utopia can be achieved in this world.

Before the expiry of my consultancy assignment, UNICEF Sri Lanka offered me a long term assignment as Social Development Consultant to Mahaweli Ganga Project. I could not believe my luck because the Mahaweli Ganga Development Project was tailor-made for implementing 56 the social mobilisation strategy. A few eyebrows were raised in Colombo, both at the headquarters of the Mahaweli Authority and the UNICEF Country Office, when I proposed living at the project site in the Kalawewa area where 27,000 families were being settled in elephant country infested with cobras and wild animals. My decision to live in the wild paid great dividends including full page coverage of my work in Newsweek entitled “A Man Named Khan”.

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